The Naruto Reports
by 6Jake1man6
Summary: With Naruto's disappearance marked the beginning of the odd happenings that are now going on in konoha, and Naruto's former class-mates refuse to let his memories fade away. Even as twelve year old they ware digging deep into lost history, dark rituals, and a corrupt political sphere that may get them all killed. On another note, what are these sub-human creatures attacking konoha?
1. The Naruto Reports

**All right, now, before you all rip me a new one for deleting my old account... It was an accident believe it or not. I deleted the wrong story by accident and couldn't bring myself to re-write the whole story, especially since I had just started my studies again.**

**And yet here i am a month later, re-writing the entire damn thing. I have a lot of free time this week. Let's see if I can get all of the chapters from before back up shall we?**

**This is How Naruto should really be crossed with KH.**

_**KH has some great concepts, and some cool characters, but they do not mix well with the Naruto universe unless you tweak them.**_

_**There will be no crossing to other worlds, nor will there be any characters from KH. Just some of the concepts, like nobodies and heartless, though modified, you'll see what I mean soon enough.**_

_**I do not own Naruto or Kingdom Hearts.**_

* * *

Naruto was ten the first time he noticed it.

He had just failed the exam to becoming a genin, and he wasn't happy.

Not knowing how else to deal with his anger he did what he always did, and that was to go ape shit on the training post in his favorite training area.

One of the first things the academy instructors taught him, and every other student, was to focus chakra into their limbs.

The technigue was known as Muscle Release.

Doing this could allow them to jump higher if they channeled it into their legs, or punch harder when channeled into the arms.

This technique is what allowed Naruto to reduce the wooden post to nothing more than wood chips and saw dust.

He had been doing this for nearly an hour before the intended result was realized.

The training post had ceased to exist, and Naruto had worked his hands, literally, to the bone.

The skin of his fists had been scraped clean off, the flesh torn from the surely broken knuckles. A normal person would probably go to the hospital, but Naruto knew they would be healed within a week, if he let them heal.

As his anger subsided Naruto began to release his control on his chakra, and let it begin to subside. Then he wrenched it back into existence, just before it faded.

What was that? Had he just imagined it?

Along with his emotional state, his chakra seemed to have changed, not noticeably but in a way that caught Naruto's attention.

A question occured to him, one that he didn't need help answering, and could investigate on his own.

Did emotions and chakra share a more intimate relationship than the shinobi world thought they did?

* * *

Naruto Report 0

I have spent my life in pursuit of a goal, and due to my obsession with the ends I have not spent enough time persueing the means.

I am cursed by peoples glares and disrespect, they call me a demon, a monster, the bane of their existance.

Where does all of this hatred come from, and where was my need for acceptance born. For my dream to be Hokage was surely born from that.

There are few things that I understand, but I understand them well.

0a) Those who claim to be of the light cause the rest of us to suffer, and are the true evil of this world, and darkness is the good. Odd that our concepts of good and evil would be completely backwards.

0b) The sake of the few are sacrificed for the sake of the many.

0c) Fact number two is entirely unnecessary, and should not be a fact of life, but is.

With the discovery I made last week, I hope to come to understand those around me, as well as myself.

This discovery may help me on my goal of become a great Hokage, and as future Hokage understanding the heart is vital.

My hands have healed from my battle with the training post, and I am ready to begin.

* * *

Naruto Report 1

Chakra and Emotion

For my first experiment I attempted to alter my emotional state while channeling chakra.

It was surprisingly easy.

Anger was an emotion I am familiar with, and was therefore the first I tested.

The effects were predictable

Heightened production of chakra, ruined chakra control, but oddly enough releasing chakra, as in removing chakra from the body, and releasing it into the environment, was easier, inner chakra control, was sabotaged horribly.

Sadness was another emotion that has plagued me over the years, so I tested it next.

The results were unexpected.

Lower production of chakra, colossal control improvement (I managed to perform a regular Bunshin!) Inner chakra control, as in chakra that is used within the body, like the henge or the muscle release technique, were easier.

Sadness is a powerful emotion.

Infatuation might not seem like a real emotion, but i wanted to test it.

It is an odd emotion, so I had to test it in an odd way.

With fantasies of my pink haired crush floating through my head I tested my chakra.

No change in chakra amount, nor in chakra release or inner control, but I found it easier to FOCUS chakra, like I had a target and I could compress and use chakra in smaller amounts.

This was something I could never do before.

Boredom is something Iruka sensei taught me well, but was oddly difficult to produce artificially.

Results:Boredome should be avoided at all times.

On every level of criteria my abilities were more than halved, chakra amount, control, release, implosion, and concentration were all awful.

Calm was predictable.

Better chakra focus, like with infatuation, and control, but no other benefits.

Joy...

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't test this emotion, for I have never felt said emotion.

It was at this point that I quit the days experiment, and went home.

I spent the night crying.

* * *

Naruto report 2

Fall of my 11th year

I have recently turned eleven, Oddly enough I recieved several gifts.

A new jacket from Iruka, an odd assortment of cooking utensils and ramen making ingredients from the Ichiraku's of course, now if I only knew how to cook.

The third gift was a wallet shaped like a frog, which had a twin in the form of a nightcap.

There was no card to go with the present, but it smelled faintly of lavender and cinnamon.

For the first time in my life I felt it...

JOY!

Effects include an incredibly heightened amount of chakra production, more so than anger, but not much else, maybe a minor ability to release chakra, again like anger, but I'm not sure.

Joy is such a foreign emotion to me, it leaves an odd aching in my chest,similar to sadness.

I think I prefer anger, for all intents and purposes.

* * *

**Naruto Report 3**

**Winter of my 11th year**

I tested all of these emotions many times, and the results were consistent, but left me exhausted after each session.

I was now able to change my emotional state at will, and benefited from it's effects. Though I kept it a secret.

This was a fantastic discovery, one that will surely help me reach my goals, I have finally found a means to an end, and actually understand the means.

There isn't much more I can do on my own, I will need to discover new means of experimenting with chakra, as well as emotions.

Fortunately the new school year starts soon, and I will have many peers and resources at my disposal, I think I'll be a much more attentive student this year, and, perhaps, a much more social one.

* * *

**Naruto report 4**

**Spring of my 11th year**

For almost three months now I have attended my second year at the academy, and my teachers Iruka and Mizuki have been completely useless.

The libraries haven't been too useful either. Dealing mostly with historical accounts and biographies as well as the general education subjects like math and literature. Although I did take a interest in chemistry, particularly with the classification of elements and how their organization had been discovered.(For those of you who don't know look up "Chemistry, a volatile history" You can watch it online no problem. It's a shame they only ever made three episodes of it.)

That might be useful to me.

On another note my social life is booming.

I have begun to join in activities with several of my peers.

Shikamaru and Choji were the first to welcome me into their lives, and since Ino seems to have a secret infatuation with Choji, she was also in our social circle.

I sincerely enjoyed watching clouds with Shikamaru, as well as eating out with Choji, I could do without helping Ino paint her nails. Her gossip annoys me sometimes too, though, I'm fairly outspoken myself, so I cannot criticize.

We would do all kinds of thigks that kin would, we would get into all kinds of mischief, and even eat lunch with one another.

It was due to these last two activities that Hinata and Kiba joined our little group.

Kiba would never pass up a chance to get into trouble, and was normally my right hand man in all our pranks.

My favorite thus far was when we dumped ungodly amounts of blue dye into the water system, all it took was a lighter to make it rain blue dye on everybody.

Hundreds of students and dozens of teachers came storming out of the school looking like shriveled up smurfs.

Hinata was quite odd, she was introduced one lunch by Kiba and Ino, who for some reason introduced her to me first.

Every lunch my new acquaintances always made me and Hinata sit next to each-other, I didn't know why, but they seemed to be playing some game, and I wasn't too sure I wanted to be a part of it.

Though I would be lying if I said I didn't like sitting next to her.

Her faint smell of lavender and cinnamon was a breath of fresh air compared to to my Kiba's dog breath and Choji's oh so manly musk. Though, I think she's afraid of me... but she doesn't have that look of hate mixed with fear like the adults have.

I met the broody Sasuke one afternoon while training. The Uchiha had caught me while he was destroying the training post that had been set up where the old one had once been.

One thing led to another, and before either of us knew it, we were sparring.

From that day on I always had a training partner, weather it be Sasuke or Kiba.

For the first time in my life I was happy, and it made my stomach churn in a sickly way.

* * *

**Naruto report 5**

**Late spring of my 11th year**

At long last a breakthrough.

Today we went on a field trip to the hospital, an odd field trip no doubt, and there we met several medic nins.

They introduced many things to us, but the ones that caught my eyes were as follows.

5a) Chakra orbs. A small sphere of crystal that can hold chakra that is placed into it. Used for testing chakra defects of any kind, there seemed to be many kinds.

5b) Soldier pills, and variants. Concoctions of vitamins and minerals mixed with chakra, some used for healing injuries, or to replenish chakra stores.

5c) Specter Glass. A large magnifying glass like object, the size of a volley ball, that acts in many ways like a doujutsu would. With this you can see chakra in all its' forms.

It's normally used during surgery as medics, in all their complicated medical jutsu, need to know how the chakra is flowing inside of the patients bodies, for reasons I am not yet educated enough to understand. Though I assume healers use the subjects own natural enery stores to heal them, as opposed to dipping into their own.

Wither way it is a magnificant creation, that would make my studies move forward in leaps and bounds.

I must have one.

* * *

**Naruto report 6**

**early Summer of my 11th year**

Chakra orbs were easy to procure, as were the ingredients and instruction for making soldier pills, and their many variants.

A specter glass on the other hand, was decidedly impossible to obtain, as they were as precious as diamond, their existence was seldom known.(In fact, my discovering them was a total fluke due to my wandering off into the E.R)

For now the materials I already have will have to suffice.

The chakra orbs were a cinch to use.

Just release some chakra and the orb absorbs it, simple as can be.

I had in excess twenty of them, don't ask how I got them, I don't tattle tell on myself.

And they were reusable!

I managed to fill seven, one with regular chakra, and the rest with the various emotions.

I transferred the emotional chakra from two orbs at a time to make a mixture of two.

Even though boredom was useless on its' own, the same can be said about salt. But if you mix it with something else, it becomes delicious.(Author-food anologies help naruto remember, for proof, try reading the popular manga known as "Naruto.")

With that analogy in mind I mixed "boredom" with "Anger", "Sadness", "Joy", "Calm", and"Infatuation".

I placed all of the regular "Emotions" into a mixture of minerals and vitamins that would normally make a chakra restoration pill, and I did the same with the boredom mixtures.

Now I am presented with a problem.

I'm sure as hell not Ingesting this.

* * *

**Naruto Report 7**

**Late summer of my 11th year**

I found something today while walking through the park.

A red fox, female, had been killed and was left to rot just off the main path.

Ever since the night I was born, and the nine tailed fox attacked, the poor canines were a source of entertainment, for torture or cold blooded killing.

It was appalling.

I heard a yipping noise, like a puppy in pain.

I followed the noise and found a den, just yards away from the mothers corpse was, and inside were three dead fox pups, and two more dying pups. No doubt from starvation.

One died on the trip back to my measly apartment, but the other was fine by the time we got home, apparently she was favored over the others by the mother, and survived the last few days without milk.

I took pitty on the poor creature and shared some of my dairy products with it. She will probably need more than just milk in order to survive, I'll ask Kiba what kind of baby formula I should feed her with.

Despite not eating for at least two days, she was oddly energetic, I named her Naruko, a effeminate version of my own name.

Naruko seemed so happy that I had to ask her.

"Your entire family was taken from you, and you were left to die, aren't you angry."

She looked at me stupidly, as if she were waiting for me to play with her, or feed her.

"Well if you're slow to anger I can help you improve your running time."

I offered her a soldier pill that had been infused with pure "Anger", which she gratefully accepted.

The results were satisfying. Though i should probably get this stitched.

* * *

**Naruto report 8**

**Day of my second exam**

I failed again, not due to inability, but due to exhaustion.

I spent the last whole week, day and night, testing all of the pills on little Naruko, and writing down the results.

I now know why foxes are considered tricksters, their yips sound like human laughter, I discovered this when I gave her a joy pill.

She reminds me so much of myself, the way she writhes when she consumes "Sadness."

It's nice to make someone else hurt like I do.

Now that I know the pills won't kill me I'll be sure to test them on myself next, compare my results to hers.

I failed to write down the fact that I had also mixed together three way compounds of emotion and fed her, it's difficult to describe her reactions.

I'll probably better understand their effects when I experience her pain, the pain I fed her.

Self-inflicted Karma.

* * *

**Naruto report 9**

**Fall of my 12th year**

I have tested all of the pills on myself now, and have made the following discoveries.

9a) The Boredom and Salt analogy was dead on. When mixed with other emotions it amplifies all of that emotions effects, but like salt it should only be sprinkled on top, never in high concentrations.

9b) It may be possible to make a perfect mixture of Emotions, to where one could consume the formula, and receive the benefits of each emotion.

3) It may also be possible to make the effects of the formula's permanent.

I discovered this when I mixed a new ingredient into the formula, and fed the pill to Naruko.

She is now permanently raging, she is a danger to herself and others, therefor I am keeping her sedated.

I will continue to feed her any new formulas I get to ensure that they are safe to consume, but otherwise she is of no further use to me.

* * *

**Naruto report 10**

**Winter of my 12th year**

Apparently the Specter Glass is a Hyuga invention.

One of last years graduating team stopped by the academy to render the teachers some assistance.

They were great!

Lee, a green spandex wearing freak, was able to match my endurance, but far surpassed me in speed and strength. I didn't stand a chance in our spar.

I took a chakra replenishing pill afterwards and went about meeting his two teammates.

Tenten, an attractive brunette, was a master with bladed weapons, even though she was a recent graduate.

I lost against her as well.

A little bit of humility never hurt anyone, right?

She seemed to really like me, because she gave me her address and told me I could mail her anytime, or even visit.

I think she wants me to join her and her team in training, how could I refuse?

Neji was so easy to read.

He's the type of person who feels out of control, like his whole life is in the hands of somebody else, and I had the feeling that this may very well be the case.

I let him use me as an outlet for his frustration. We sparred.

For more than an hour he mopped the floors with me. He wasn't used to having someone last so long in a fight with him, because he was impressed.

The guy practically fell in love with me.

We talked a bit, he described his family's ability the Byakugan.

I told him it reminded me of the Specter Glass.

After recovering from the shock at the fact that I knew of Specter Glasses, he explained to me that they were a Hyuga invention, and that he could get one for me, so long as I promise to spar with him twice a week.

It was too good of a chance to pass up, so I agreed.

* * *

**Naruto report 11**

**Late winter of my 12th year**

My battered and bruised body is a trophy, as is my brand new Specter Glass.

Looking through the Specter Glass was like looking at an x-ray, but instead of seeing a skeleton you see a persons, or in this case a fox's, chakra system.

I very much doubt that Naruko's chakra system should look like that.

I have made a forula of "Emotions" and soldier pill formula, to where a person would obtain all of the perks, and none of the drawbacks, of each emotion, and permanent results.

I gave the less permanent version to poor Naruko, and it's a miracle, for her chakra system was restored to normal.

Well, normal isn't the word, let's just say her chakra system has been refined to a sharp point.

The pill of course wore off eventually, so I gave her the permanent one, and waited for the sedative to wear off.

She's now as lively and happy as the day I first met her, though she is a bit larger, and stronger.

I then took the permanent pill myself, completely bypassing the temporary one.

I feel amazing.

* * *

**Naruto report 12**

**Complications**

**Early spring of my 12th year**

A boy in my class, Shino I believe his name is, approached me today.

He says he knows what I've been doing, and that it was illegal to perform such experiments.

He also told me that he would keep his silence if I "Made him, like me."

The man makes a hard bargain, I gave him a temporary pill and told him I'd give him the permanent one tomorrow, it is "marinating" right now and will be ready by breakfast tomorrow.

When I asked him why he wanted it he simply said.

"Because my insects like the way you taste."

I don't know what to make of him, but I'm sure he'll keep his silence.

* * *

**Naruto Report 13**

**Mid spring of my 12th year**

There wasn't much more I could do with the Emotion drugs, so I ditched those and began performing some new experiments.

From what I've seen thus far I have two new objectives.

12a) A weapon formed purely of the soul, one that could rip through another persons spirit and emotions, I will call it the soul-blade. (not a keyblade but pretty much the same thing)

12b) Can a body and a soul exist separately of each-other. I intend to rip the entire chakra system from a living being, emotions attached, from a body and ensure that both survive, somehow.

-A body without a soul, or emotions, or a heart, I intend to call it a heartless.*

- A soul, with chakra, emotions, and a heart, but no body, I will call it a Nobody.*

The curious thing here is what will the heartless use in place of chakra, I read somewhere about the theory of chakra's opposite, anti-chakra, which is comparable to anti-matter.

Perhaps I will discover this substance, and maybe I'll be recognized for the discovery.

* * *

**Naruto report 14**

**Early summer of mu 12th year**

It's been almost three months since my last report, and I've made many leaps and bounds since then, though I became so worked up into my studies that I forgot to record them, my grades at school have also suffered, though I shouldn't have a problem passing the exam.

The Soul-Blade was a raging success. I had managed to create it within weeks of my last report, and it is beautiful.

It is a semi-physical object that I can hold in my hand, which I forged from my own chakra and can dispell or summon at any time, like a jutsu, but it is so much more than a simple spell.

It appears as a blade of many tendrils, said tendrils are multiple shades of every color known to man, though blue is dominant, and just as I theorized rips right through chakra, and soul.

I tested it on a deer at the park that was passing by, I struck it down with a single slice.

Note: the dear vanished from existence after I did this, and I can only wonder where it went.

After I was positive that the blade was everything I theorized it would be, I went about creating my Heartless and nobodies.

I only ever managed to create one of each, and both rose from a single source.

Poor Naruko. I pressed the Soul-blade over her like a blanket, and as intended, body and soul were separated.

Note: the body that was left behind had an x-shape mark on hit, or a curved X, and as I recall so did the dear I struck, I have thus renamed the SoulBlade, X-Blade, becaue of the odd wound left on the body of those who have had their souls torn out.

It should also be noted that Naruko's heartless had severe changes in color.

Naruko's nobody has remained motionless since being brought into existence. This concerns me, because I know why this is.

With all of the emotions, and possibly memories, removed from the body, then where is the will to survive, to exist?

There isn't one. So unless I can find a way to keep some memories, or hell even one memory, so that I can still exist when I finally decide to turn myself, I might end up committing suicide. That's something I don't want.

Naruko's heartless on the other hand, was very lively, too lively.

Restraining her presented a problem, but an over-sized chakra orb now serves as her prison.

By studying her I have managed to create "Memories". Which are similar to my x-blade in that they are formed purely of chakra and emotion, but they hold memories, thoughts, and ...something more

I have taken the few that are important to me, so very few, and attached them to my physical body, separate from my chakra system, so that when I turn, I may be able to keep a sense of self.

Naruko's nobody died from self deprivation. Though her living soul still exists... for now.

The exam is coming up soon, I will have no difficulty passing it.

* * *

**An Accident**

I was fooling around with the X-blade, performing swordplay maneuvers that I am far too inept to perform, and I nicked myself.

My soul wasn't ripped from my body, nor was my chakra, but I've been damaged. Everything that Emotion drug did for me is lost, and no matter how much more I ingest I can't correct the damage.

The exam is coming up, What am I going to do?

* * *

I failed the exam.

What now?

Mizuki, thank you.

* * *

I'm a fool

I let him trick me, the traitor.

But he told me everything.

The demon, the villagers, why they all treat me this way.

I can't take it anymore, I won't take it anymore.

I'm sick of hating, I'm sick of being hated.

I will plunge the X-blade through my chest, and free myself from all this pain.

To whomever reads this.

My heartless body will live on, somewhere far away from these people, with only the memories i want it to have, where as my bodiles soul, full of hatred and sorrow, will be left here, to do what the villagers have been wanting me to do for so long.

Konoha will burn, but I won't be the one to do it.

You made this monster, I simply unleashed it.

* * *

Sora* had just finished the cooking for tomorrows lunch and was ready for bed.

Too bad the steps leading down from the temple of fire nation were long and numerous, with many patio's in between flights.

Not watching where he was going, Sora nearly tripped on a boy who was laying on one of the patios.

"Hey, what the heck are you doing here?" Sora demanded of the boy.

He was about as old as he was, with white hair spiking backwards (Like Zack from crisis core), a single whisker mark on each cheek, and and X shaped scar over his chest, a scar that looked rather new.

The boy was half naked and was wearing nothing but an orange and black pair of pants. It took Sora a moment to realize that this boy was on deaths' doorstep, as well as his own.

"Oh crap, are you all right?" Sora asked more politely as he kneeled down to check on him.

Sora felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see a bald man in his mid to late thirties.

"Master Chiriku?" Sora asked, and was about to explain what happened when Chiriku shushed him.

Chiriku bent down and lifted the half dead boys' head.

"Child, what is your name?" Chiriku asked.

The boy opened his eyes, to reveal two golden yellow orbs for the world to see.

"Trauxon*" the boy answered before passing out again.

* * *

_**END**_

_**Well there we go, there are just a few things I need to explain.**_

_*** In kingdom hearts I believe nobodies should have been dubbed heartless and the Heartless should have been dubbed nobodies. But i'll continue referring to them the way they were referred to in KH.**_

_**Why, because the nobodies were bodies left behind without hearts! and heartless were hearts without bodies. Yet their names are reveresed! what the fuck square Enix?**_

_***This is not the Sora from KH, this is the Sora from the Naruto filler episodes, I think they were in the sixties and seventies of shippuden.**_

_*** Naruto+X= Trauxon (tra-x-un) there were other possible names, but I chose this one, deal with it.**_


	2. Pride

_**The last chapter was mostly in Naruto's first person, but this one will be in second person. I am experimenting with my writing style.**_

_**Here are a few questions that need answering.**_

_**1) Naruto was still the same loveable prankster we all know, but as anybody who has played kingdom hearts knows, everyone has a dark side.**_

_**2) I made Naruto seem like he had two personalities, I did that on purpose so that when he split into two I would already have a personality for both individuals.**_

_**3) Yes, I put Sora from the fillers in just to mind fuck everyone.**_

* * *

**In Response to reviews:**

**WordSmithofIron: I actually think the names of both the Heartless and the Nobodies serve to explain the motivations behind their actions...Do you plan to involve the Keyblade? If you have heartless its pretty much mandatory"**

**Me: Yes, I know about hte symbolism behind it, I was being humorous. I personaly think have two character concepts that are clear oposites of each-other, having personalities completely opposite of their being, is a little over the top.**

**Also, yes, the "ENTIRE" story revolvess around the X-blade.(which is the keyblade) I shit you not these next fifteen or so chapters, though they may not appear to, are actually concerning hte x-blade.**

* * *

Iruka sat silently over the place where Mizuki, his childhood friend, had been just moments ago.

He had watched as his student used a weapon he haqd never seen before, to end his best friends life. He had stayed by his side as his body faded into crystaline dust before vanishing into nothing. (imagine Xions death)

What manner of weapon had that been?

He stood up tentatively, his body bloodied and battered from the altercation just minutes ago.

Iruka continued on into the woods, in the direction Naruto had gone. His mind a whirlwind of possible actions to take upon cofronting the preteen.

Everything from comforting the emotionally distraught boy, to ending his life had gone through his mind, but he wouldn't know what he was going to do until the time came, and when it did come, he was confident that he would do the right thing.

He then put his focus in following Naruto's trail, the occasional broken twig, bend branch, disturbed earth and leaves were a clear enough indication of his targets direction.

Iruka winced as he pushed his way through the last bit of bushes, every leaf and branch scraping against his raw body felt agonizing.

The clearing his found himself in was oddly beautiful. It gleamed with the first rays of the morning sunlight, givng it an ethereal feel.

The white light emanating from the center of the clearing might have had something to do with it too.

There, in the center of the clearing occurred the same crystalline evaporation that had taken Mizuki away to an unknown destination.

Blades of grass and grains of soil alike were expanding and vanishing in a beautiful, and yet somewhat eerie, spectacle.

As the last few blades of grass faded away Iruka felt his grip on reality slip away ever so slightly.

Nothing made sense anymore.

Without the reality bending distraction Iruka noticed a small leather journal, with at least a dozen slips o paper pinned to the front cover. It sat just feet away from the painfully beautiful anomaly.

Iruka half walked, half crawled to the small journal.

He bent over and stretched out a single hand.

But before his fingers could wrap around his salvation he vaguely recognized a single kunai wizzed through the air.

It pinned in hand to the ground in a painful display of stigmata.

Somebody was standing over him, just on the other side of the journal.

Iruka gritted his teeth and looked up at his assailant.

He locked eyes with his assailant, all features hidden behind a mask and hood, except for the blue green orbs that held his gaze.

Green slashes marred the otherwise smooth surface of his black mask.

"Are you ally or foe?" Iruka prompted.

"That depends entirely on how well you co-operate, " Said the man with green eyes.

"I meant in relation to Konoha." Iruka growled.

"Ah, in that case we are allies." He affirmed.

"Then state your title and name your superior." Iruka practically snarled.

The man paused at this, either amused or intimidated, likely the former.

"I am a first class ANBU of the elite Root organization. My only superior is master Donzou of the Konoha council, and grievances you have may be taken up with him." The ma answered.

He then bend over and committed the most greivous of sins. He took the journal.

"Leave it!" Iruka demanded.

Another person entirely responded to this demanded. A female voice.

"My apologies Mr. Umino, but We must collect evidence, and you are in no shape to report in to your superiors, so please, allow us to do our job." The feminen voice explained.

Iruka turned his head around to look at woman's appearance mirrored the man he had been conversing with, only her mask was marred by crimson red slashes.

Now that he was calm enough assess the situation, Iruka could clearly count half a dozen root ANBU in the clearing.

"In the meantime, you need medical attention." The woman informed him before taking a step towards him.

"Oh my, aren't you the caring bunch, offering medical assistance to the crippled man you just injured." Naruto spat sarcastically.

The woman tilted her head cutely, and he could only imagine the cutesy face she was likely making at him

"Do you refuse our knidness? Because we can just leave you hear to drag your pathetic self to the nearest hospital, whis is only, oh say, 40 miles away." The woman teased.

Iruka glared at her for a few moments before conceding and beckoning her to administer first aid.

She wasn't all that tentative in taking the kunai out, but her healing hands were the softest he had ever felt. And as she used her healing jutsu to close his wounds and alleviate his pain he felt oddly at peace.

And then she spoke again and his infatuation melted as quickly as an ice-cube on a hot summer day. My god was her voice aggravating!

"All right, you should be good to go. I assume your smart enough to get home without any assistance, so we'll be leaving you be. Expect a house call for your debriefing tomorrow."

With that she turned heal and started walking away, along with the rest of her group.

Iruka sat there for what felt like hours, but were probably minutes, motionless and empty.

After a while he silently got up and began the long walk to his house.

It was nearly noon when he arrived, and he wasted no time in making his way to his bedroom, bypassing the shower entirely.

As soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep with one question in his head.

What the hell was going on?

* * *

Monday's were usually a slow day for the konoha ninja academy. slow, and quiet.

Not this Monday though.

Ecstatic clamoring and an uproar of conversations could be hear from the most recently graduated class.

This day belonged to them, the newly declared genin of konoha, the rest of the school was empty besides their year. For this was their day.

For the first time in decades an heir to every single clan of Konoha had graduated simultaneously. Not to mention the numerous nameless students who had dreams of bringing new honor to their families. They mostly came from merchant families.

Regardless, they were all ready to attack the world!

They lost a bit of the pip in their step when, instead of their former teachers Mizuki and Iruka, a young woman walked into the room.

She was a very indecent sight, wearing nothing but a miniskirrt, a tan trenchcoat, and skin tight chain-link armor. what a tomboy.

"Good morning maggots, my Name is Anko, you may call me master, or simply Anko, whichever you prefer." She stated firmly, waving the clip board in her hand.

The class room had gone instantly silent at the bizarre womans entrance.

"All right, let's get this over with. All right you will all be split into balanced teams of three, They are as follows." Anko began as she took a look at her notepad.

A young girl near the back of the room stood up tentatively, a hand raised.

"But, where are Iruka, and Mizuki-sensies?" She asked tentatively.

"Iruka is on leave and Misuki's dead, the dumb bastard" Anko informed them nonchalantly.

She seemed a little happy at Mizuki's death.

This severely mellowed out everyone in the room. Mizuki was their teacher, and by extension, their friend and he was dead?

"Now, moving on, the teams will be..."

The silence broke into a roar of questions as everybody, all at once, demanded answers, while very rudely interrupting their sub.

"SHUT UP." Anko ordered.

The silence returned.

"I'm not done giving you all revelations yet. There is also a new addition to your graduating class, who, by order of a Konoha higher up, will be joining one of your teams." Anko informed them,not really answering any of their questons.

The silence continued.

All of the students were still coming to terms with what this odd woman, who for some reason greatly resembled Naruto, had said, when a boy walked into the room.

He was definitely in their age group, but he still seemed so out of place. His skin was the palest any of them had ever seen, and his hair and eyes were a shade of black that clashed terribly with his pale-ness.

He wore plain black plants and a black and silver sleeveless vest that completely covered his body, and stopped just below his crotch.*(1)

"Here he is, everybody, please welcome Sai to your class, and to whomever becomes his teammates, please be kind to him, or as kind as shinobi are capable of being." Anko said half heartedly.

Sai smiled a wide plastic grin, before bowing, and taking a seat next to Sakura, who was now sitting between the newcomer and Sasuke.

Needless to say, she was happy.

"I will now announce the teams." Anko announced as she pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper from an inside pocket of her coat.

* * *

Of all the people he had to be teamed with, why, why in the name of all that is good on this planet, did he have to be teammates with the Pink haired book worm, and the smiling freak?

Sasuke had already started off on the wrong foot today. He had visited Naruto's apartment hoping to get a little bit of sparring time in, maybe even cheer him up, but the loud mouthed prankster wouldn't even answer, or more likely wasn't even home.

He was probably off moping about his failure.

Now he was teammate's with Sakura and Sai, whom Sasuke suspected of being a homosexual.

"Well that's it, wait here for your Jonin instructors to arrive, and you'll be on your way. I'm out." Anko announced as she turned around and headed for the classroom door.

Sasuke decided to break his code of silence in order to try and sate his burning curiosity.

"Please, before you go." Sasuke asked, stopping the Naruto-ish woman.

She stopped midstep and answered with a grunt.

Sasuke took this as an invitation to continue, and so asked his question.

"How did Mizuki die?" Sasuke asked.

He didn't feel a need to articulate his other questions, as this woman seemed to have a tendency to cover all bases when answering a question, so that she would erase the need for any further questions.

Anko sighed exasperatedly, but turned to face the class nonetheless.

"Fine, here's what I know. Mizuki apparently betrayed the village by taking advantage of a poor genin hopeful who failed the exam. He tricked said student into stealing a forbidden scroll from the Hokage's estate, and he attempted to make off with the scroll to another village." Anko stopped mid sentence to take a deep breath as she had been speaking rather fast.

"Iruka showed up on the scene just as Mizuki attempted to kill the student and acquire the scroll from the poor idiot, but was struck down, the child then took matters into his own hands, and killed the traitor. I was also told that the kid died shortly after. Any more questions?" Anko asked, and answered.

...

"Just one." The Nara kid in the back asked raising his hand.

"Who was the student?" Shikamaru asked.

Anko was quiet for a moment as she apparently tried to remember the name.

"It was Naru... Naru- something, I don't remember, ask someone else I'm out of here!" Anko announced as she rushed out of the classroom before anybody else could bombard her with questions.

Everyone, Sasuke included, was silent for a moment as they put all of the pieces together.

"NARUTO?" Everyone said in unison.

* * *

_Excerpt of Naruto's Journal*(2)_

_Page 18_

_When searching for answers people tend to avoid multiple sources._

_A single all encompassing source is always preferable to hearing all side of an argument._

_This is why people tend to ask one person a question, and then continue asking them question after question until they have wrung all knowledge from that person, as that person has been associated with knowledge._

_When that source of knowledge is used up, a person will simply run off to the next one._

_What happens though, when the person you ask does not have an answer, or worse yet, gives you an answer you simply cannot accept._

_What does one do then?_

_They simply go out to find out for themselves to confirm it with their own two eyes._

_There is no greater resource that personal experience._

_After all, seeing, is believing._

* * *

Twenty seven former students of Konoha ninja academy were now marching through konoha.

Led by Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba inuzuka, both of whom were the most familiar with Naruto's whereabouts.

Sasuke, in particular, was in disbelief about what he had been told.

Naruto? Dead?

That woman Anko must be mistaken, maybe Naruto had just been injured horribly and was now hospitalized. Mizukis betrayal was a little harder to swalloe.

He made a mental note to visit the hospital next if Naruto was not present at his apartment.

They turned one last corner and were now in front of the four story apartment complex. It was as shabby as he remembered it being.

The place was shaped in such an odd way, there was a front door certainly, but the stairs to the upper stories were on the outside of the building, wrapping around it like a snake.

And Naruto's apartment was at the very top. And itself had a patio that vaguely resembled the mast of a ship.

Sasuke continued to lead the group up the many flights of stairs until they were finally on the fifth story.

When they reached it, they were greeted by an odd sight.

The entire patio that connected the apartments, and served as a hallway, was littered with sealing scrolls, as well as a storm of cluttered cloths and papers.

There were two ANBU-like figures standing in front of Naruto's open apartment door, and Sasuke was sure that there were more inside.

"There are three more inside, making a grand total of five." Hinata whispered to the group.

Sasuke was grateful to have a Hyuga in his presence at a time like this, and couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't on a team with her. Surely their teachers didn't think the two of them shared their former clan's distaste for each-other.

One of the ANBU noticed them, and tilted his head in their direction.

He had a blank mask with green paint on it, which was very odd since ANBU normally wore animal masks.

"Do not interfere, this is official ROOT business." The ROOT member ordered them.

One of Sasuke's former peers, a girl with scraggly hair, pushed past him in order to confront the ANBU.

"You ROOT members have no jurisdiction over us. You are nothing but a ragtag group of borderline missing nin, and are not actually a department of konoha's military, or government, even as Genin we have higher authority than your highest member." The girl, Sasuke believed her name was Maia, retorted.

See, even she was a better teammate than the two he was given, and she was paired up with complete nincompoops, there was no way she would make it with teammates like that.

"So stop overstepping your non-existent jurisdiction, and let us through." She further ordered.

She seemed to have struck a chord, because the Green painted ROOT member flinched towards his weapon pouch out of apparent anger, but calmed himself.

"Our jurisdiction lies in superior strength, and in threat of retaliation. That is where every authority lies, in threat, if you do anything we don't want you to, we'll persecute you, that's the motto of every government that ever existed." The ROOT informed them.

Sasuke hated to admit it but he had already known this to be true. If you have superior strength, you have superior authority, even above laws, and these individuals were ANBU-level, they were definitely the superiors here.

Sasuke put his hand on Maia's shoulder in order to stop her from attacking the man. He'd be lying if he said he didn't like her spunk, but it could get them all in serious trouble.

She relaxed under his touch, probably realizing how folly her actions were.

"Why are you stealing Naruto's belongings?" Kiba demanded in a harsh tone.

Sasuke wanted to know the same thing.

"No comment." The Green masked ROOT answered.

"Who ordered you to be here?" Sasuke asked quickly before Kiba got out of hand.

"No comment." The man answered again.

Oh, he was just cruising for a bruising.

Two of the ANBU who were inside of the apartment now exited through the door.

One was carrying a box of glowing, multi-colored, orbs the size of golf balls. The other was carrying a single orb half as large as Sasuke himself was.

There seemed to be some kind of... creature inside of it, one that was very canine-like in appearance, and it was going nuts at the moment.

"Fine, I concede. Naruto was found to be in possession of some questionable belongings, we are confiscating them to determine if they are dangerous or not. That is all you need to know." The Man with the Green mask answered.

Eh, seems legit. Sasuke was pretty sure he didn't want to play fetch with whatever was in that sphere.

The fifth and final ANBU member came out from the apartment carrying a metal stand that supported some kind of magnifying glass.

Sasuke thought it looked oddly familiar.

"I will be confiscating that." A rage filled voice demanded from just behind him.

Sasuke was pushed aside by, wait, surely not, Hinata?

"Hand it over." She demanded again, byakugan flaring.

Whoa! where did this come from?

She was obviously referring to the magnifying glass like object. The thing was the size of a saucer and on closer inspection had runes carved into the silver fastenings.

The Female Anbu member who was holding it looked taken aback, even with a mask on. She looked from the man in the green mask to Hinata, and back again, waiting for confirmation.

"Why should I?" The female ANBU member asked.

Hinata was keeping a steady cold glare on her face, a look Sasuke hadn't seen on her before, it was kind of refreshing compared to her normally shy demeanor.

"That object you are holding is a Specter Glass, and is property of the Hyuga clan." Hinata stated.

Oh, so that was a Specter Glass. Sasuke was under the impression that it was a secret of the branch family of the Hyuga clan, one of the only things that the Main branch couldn't take from them.

The Specter glass was supposed to be a recreation of the byakugan, and was therefor viewed in the same way as the byakugan itself. Imagine if somebody ripped out a relatives eyes, and was now using them without permission.

Sasuke imagined that's what Hinata felt like right now.

The man in the green mask, who was now holding the large orb containing the.., thing, simply laughed.

"You may retrieve the, Specter Glass was it, from storage after we have examined it." He informed her.

Sasuke couldn't help but think 'wrong answer?'

Hinata made a hand seal, a simple hand seal, and the Specter Glass exploded with a loud..

BANG!

Shards of glass shot in every direction, particularly into the breasts of the ANBU holding. A few shards even stuck out of her blue marked mask.

She dropped dead then and there, and the woman with red marks who stood next to her was putting pressure on her own wounds.

The third ANBU dropped the box of glass spheres, and clutched his neck where a shard of glass had lodged itself, and the Green Masked ANBU, the one holding the large orb which contained the feral creature, well, dropped it.

Sasuke wasn't completely sure what happened next. Something flew out of the now shattered sphere, and into the Green masked ANBU's chest.

The many smaller sphere's broke into pieces as well, and from them rose luminescent wisps of every color, like small cuts of fabric they gently floated in the air, before rushing to penetrate the mans chest like the creature had.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

The man screamed in agony, and in madness, while backing away from everyone else, closer to the railing, closer to the edge.

Sasuke was rooted in place, mesmerized, and admittedly terrified, of what he was witnessing.

The back of the man's leg finally came in contact with the railing, and he fell over.

"No Zaia." A female ANBU with yellow paint, the one left unharmed, but dazed, from the explosion, yelled.

She ran forward to try and catch him, but before she even reached him, countless luminescent tendrils of what appeared to be multi-colored chakra, shot out of his chest and grabbed her, and the man with glass in his throught.

As he fell so did they, leaving the two critically injured or dead ANBU behind.

Sasuke, and apparently everyone behind him, crowded around the railing to see the three ANBU fall.

The tendrils seemed to be drawing all three together, and when they hit the ground, it transformed into a lake of dark blue and black liquid that they sank into and vanished, leaving nothing behind but wisps of whatever took them.

All were quiet for a moment, not having any idea what they just witnessed.

"Did, did we just take down five ANBU?" Kiba wondered out loud.

Sure, that could be one way of translating it, though they didn't really do any fighting.

There was a scuffling sound from where the two dead or dying ANBU fell, and they all turned to see one of them, a female with red paint on her mask, standing up.

"Nope, just four." she growled.

The mask, scarred and cracked, fell from her face, revealing the image, of a Nara. Seriously, she looked just like Shikimaru, just older and boob equipped.

She was breathing heavily, as she did have a particularly large shard of glass sticking out of her abdomen, just below the small intestine.

There was no way that didn't hit an organ.

"You are all" she paused to catch her breathing "Under arrest." She commanded.

"Hah, what are you gonna do in that condition, as I recall 'your jurisdiction lies in superior strength', well where's that strength now?" Sakura demanded confidently.

The woman raised a single finger.

"First of all, those were not my words." She stated.

This was true.

"Second of all, I am a jonin level ANBU with years of experience, and even in my current condition, I can still do this, KAGE MANE." She yelled as she formed a hand seal.

Shadows danced along the ground towards them, and before any of them knew it, they were all caught in her shadow bind

"Now it's just a waiting game, let's see if I'll be able to hold off bleeding out until backup arrives.

* * *

_Naruto's journal_

_Page 30_

_I'm constantly aware of it, even when I try to ignore its' existence._

_There is someone else there, in the back of my mind,conniving, hateful._

_Another ME?_

_Who is it, and what does he want._

_I can feel his expectations, and suggestive thoughts._

_IT, wants me to fail, to hurt, to suffer, and to hate, and I do, despite not wanting to._

_But this person, whoever it is, also wants me to succeed at something, to accomplish something, not for my gain, but for his._

_What does he want?_

* * *

The Nara woman had won the waiting game, and now all twenty seven of the Genin were waiting in a prison cell, guarded by three ANBU, the same number as the ANBU that they had killed.

"So, any theories as to what the hell happened?" A boy said cheerfully, Sasuke couldn't remember his name.

"Shut up Gunta, for once in your life, just keep your trap shut and don't get us into any more trouble." Maia ordered him.

The boy, Gunta, did as he was told and shut his trap.

Frankly Sasuke agreed with Maia, and so did everyone else if their silence was any indication.

They had all kept their silence thus far, as they themselves couldn't grasp what had happened, and therefore couldn't give testimony in their defense.

So for now they would just wait, as there were several members of prominent clans in here, and no doubt their parents would be here to bail them out any minute

Ten minutes passed by, then twenty, finally after spending more than forty five minutes in prison footsteps could be heard.

The female Nara, the one who had arrested them, now stood in front of their cell, bandaged and still mask-less.

"I understand the circumstances of our earlier disagreement, and I am mostly on your side of this argument, HOWEVER, you did kill someone very important to me with that explosion." The woman said quietly and with a calm rage.

She was looking straight at Hinata, who instead of reverting to her shy self at the piercing gaze, gave the woman one of her own.

"Your actions also led to the disappearance of three more people dear to me, though that, I will not blame you for, as there was no way you could have foreseen the consequences of your actions. Nobody could have." The Nara continued.

"I will try, and eventually succeed, at forgiving you, but in the meantime it is in your best interest, little Hyuga, to remain away from me." She went on, now speaking to Hinata directly.

"That is all." She said before limping away.

She then marched away, nose in the air.

Her position at the door was replaced by a Hyuga male in his thirties, with dark brown hair and an empty facade.

"F-father?" Hinata gasped.

Well that must be embarrassing, being bailed out of jail by your own dad, especially if you're heiress to a prominent clan.

"I will be accepting responsibility." Hiashi Hyuga told the Anbu nearest him.

The ANBU grabbed a clipboard from the wall and handed it to the Clan head, who accepted it.

"For which one, the Hyuga girl?" The ANBU pressed.

Hiashi looked up from the sheet of paper he was filling out and looked the ANBU in the eye.

"No." Hiashi affirmed.

He didn't know if he was imagining it, but Sasuke could have sworn he heard Hinata's heart stop.

"I will be taking responsibility for all of them, now if you will kindly release them into my care, I will escort them all home, one by one." Hiashi stated calmly as he handed the clipboard back to the ANBU.

* * *

After an uproar of 'your dad's great", "thank you mister Hyuga", and many other exclamations of joy, they were released from the cell.

Before they all knew it they were back on the streets of konoha following the Hyuga head. Hinata seemed to be hiding in Hiashi's shadow, and Sasuke got the impression that she really wanted him to say something.

They continued on in unbearable silence for several blocks before Hinata got her wish.

"It is my understanding that you all managed to kill four ANBU members and severely injured a fifth, very impressive for group of genin, but is it true?" Hiashi asked his back still turned to the group.

Everyone exchanged looks, trying to figure out how to explain what had happened.

"Actually sir, it was all Hinata." Gunta, the loud mouth, informed the Hyuga leader.

For a moment Sasuke thought he spotted a hint of a grin on the man's face, but it was gone so fast that he must have imagined it.

"Hmmm, not bad for your first battle, nicely done Hinata." Hiashi said to the girl, still in a monotone.

Sasuke could have sworn the man was smirking.

It might not have seemed like a lovely father daughter moment, but Hinata must have seen the grin too, because for the rest of the walk, she was glowing like a neutron star.

"This is where we part, enjoy your evening at school." Hiashi informed everyone as they reached the front gates to the Ninja academy.

He simply walked away after that, leaving them to their fate.

The group of nearly thirty marched silently through the front gates, and into the academy. Hallway by sunset lit hallway, they made their way to the classroom that they had all abandoned that morning, in favor of visiting Naruto's apartment.

They now stood in front of the door to their classroom, and they could all feel the presences inside, presences that were aware of their arrival.

Hinata seemed to have been emboldened by her fathers earlier affection, because she pushed past Ino and Sai in order to open the door.

"You know, even by my standards, you are all unbearably late." A silver haired man whith a mostly masked face greeted the.

The other Jonin in the room, looked like they agreed with him.

* * *

_**END**_

_**Wow, to be called tardy by Kakashi, that's low.**_

_**Well what do you think. I have a really good grasp on what I'll be writing from here on, and thanks for all the reviews, they really served as inspiration for writing a second chapter.**_

_***1) I changed Sai's appearance slightly, he is not wearing that gay little vest, instead he has a black sleeveless one that covers his entire chest, stomach, and crotch.**_

_***2) Naruto's journal, and Naruto's reports are two completely different volumes. Both are necessary to understand in order to understand what the hell is happening here. I will be quoting the journal randomly as time goes by, it's a puzzle that will allude to the whole picture.**_

_**Well, leave your comments. I'd love to hear what you think, I already have the next chapter planned out.**_


	3. Odd shit

_**Note: I will start using Disney references in my story, not actually disney characters, but references to them, you'll see what I mean. I will mark every reference with a ^ ^sign.**_

_**Just for kicks try and tell me where each reference is from.**_

_**I hope you all start reviewing because I really need the feedback.**_

* * *

_**I NEED A BETA!**_

Dine street.

It was essentially the main street of konoha, as it cut the city in half at it's center. In the day time it was a market place, in the evening, it party central.

Hinata could hear the joyous bustle from the surrounding bars and restaraunts, but they only served to sadden her further.

He was dead. Naruto... was dead.

She didn't feel any denial, nor any anger, or even regret, just a cold empty acceptance.

The only feelings she thought she was capable of experiencing now were muscle soreness and joint pain, compliments of her new Jonin instructor.

The scent of sake broiled stir fry wafted towards her from a nearby pub and grill.

For a moment she considered going inside and having her first drinking experience. She felt shitty enough to do it, and it was perfectly legal even if she was twelve.

A benefit of being a member of Konoha's military, if you are willing to risk your life for your nation as a shinobi, you are free to do adult things as you see fit, that includes consuming alchohol.

So legally, she was an adult, in "all" regards.

she stood there for two whole minutes, flirting with the idea of going inside and just getting hammered, it seems to help other people cope. But she wasn't other people.

She was aware of what getting drunk could potentially lead to, among them waking up in bed with a stranger, and though she accepted that other people were comfortable with that, she was not.

And so she kept walking, wondering to herself as to weather or not any of her teammates, male and female alike, would have done that. She could think of a few who probably had.

She went on walking down this street for a few more minutes before turning down a nameless street of government owned properties.

Naruto's apartment was on this street.

Hinata for the last year, had always walked down this street on her way home. It was a bit out of the way, and made her walk home a half hour longer than it needed to be.

But every time she walked down this street in the past, it was with the hope that she would, just maybe, discover the courage needed to walk up those staircases, knock on Naruto's door and... well, you can guess the rest.

She never did. She never even came close.

Even though her reason for taking this route were gone, it had become habitual, so, for one last time, she turned left at the small coffee shop she would sometimes have her afternoon snack atm and made her way past the small junk yard she would sometimes see Naruto exploring.

She didn't care that he was dead, this place belonged to him, she would forever see his ghost on these streets.

When she finally arrived at the shaggy apartment complex she didn't stop to collect herself, to try and gain the courage to go up, like she had in the past. Maybe that's what had stopped her, that moment of procrastination might have been what let her shyness win over her so many times before.

This time she didn't let it win.

She immediate started up the stairs, counting them as she went, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of Naruto's door, staring up at the plaque with the number number 626^^ written on it.

She took a deep breath, reached out, and knocked on the door.

She didn't know why, but a part of her still hoped against hope that she would hear a loud and energetc voice respond. The response never came.

Apparently those ROOT bastards couldn't be bothered to close the door behind them, because it creaked open at her touch.

The sight of Naruto's ransacked apartment struck a chord in her heart.

Every cabinet in the kitchen was opened, as well as every drawer. They even ripped open the cushions to his couch, and ripped open the drywall.

But the worst crime of all, put all those other atrocities to shame. They had torn apart and searched through all of his ramen packets. (Now that's just evil)

What could they have possibly been looking for?

She felt oddly comfortable in this run down apartment, despite the condition it was in, and despite the fact that it did not belong to her.

She took a step towards the bedroom, and heard a crunching sound from where she had stopped.

She looked down at her feet to see a small plant, uprooted from its' pot and thrown aside, the soil it had been planted it was strewn accross the floor as well.

Hinata retrieved the pot from its place next the window, and after placing the small plant inside of it she repacked the dirt.

The plant had an oily surface and a musky scent. After reading the label, made of tape and marker, she discovered that the plant had been dubbed "Grandaughter Willow (^^)". So it was a willow plant.

Leave it to Naruto to name a plant. Although, it was admittedly cute.

Hinata placed the, now potted, infant willow tree at the center of the room.

There were two other doors in the house, one had the word 'Bathroom' written on it, and the other Hinata assumed was to Naruto's bedroom.

Hinata decided to enter the restroom first, as she intended to get a little bit of water for Granddaughter Willow.

She barely managed to open the door with all the drywall that was on the ground, apparently they had felt the need to rip open the bathroom wall, because the pipe skeleton of the apartment was bare for her to see.

She noticed some incoherent writing at the top of the gaping hole, and some vibrant colors flirting around the edges of the crevice.

She looked down at the floor, at the large chunks of drywall, and picked one up.

On one of the sides was a painted surface, with alternating vibrant colors.

Naruto had painted this wall, made a portrait out of some kind. Apparently he was an artist, who knew?

She didn't understand the feeling, but for some reason she felt a need to know what the painting was of.

With that desire in mind, she set about putting the wall back together.

It wasn't easy, as she had to start from the bottom up, and she had very little to go on other than the little flashes of paint on what was left of the wall.

Through perseverance and effort, Hinata managed to put the wall back together, in a procarious kind of way, and what she saw made her soul ache.

It was a painting of her, and sasuke, and Sakura, and Ino, and everyone else in their group. Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, even her cousin Neji and his teammates were on here.

And standing in the middle of the group, with the stupidest grin, was Naruto himself.

At the top of the picture was a handwriting Hinata recognized as Naruto's.

**_Friends in My Heart_**

And at the bottom, was another.

**_Happiness at Last_**

Hinata couldn't stop the tears from falling, it was just too much.

It felt like her eyes was bleeding.

She wanted to believe that she never had the chance to tell him, to tell him how she felt.

But she had, many chances, and she let them all pass by, like memories left to rot.

She felt like she had been crying for an eternity, before she finally heard her own whimpering.

"Naruto, I'm sorry." She whispered as she caressed the painting 'Please come back, I need to say goodbye."

Creek.

There was someone else in the apartment.

Hinata felt like an idiot for not searching the place sooner, and quickly regained her feet while wiping her tears from her face, with one last sniffle.

She exited the bathroom and looked around the living room, it was still sufficiently empty, which left the as of yet unexplored bedroom.

She hesitantly, but deliberately, opened the bedroom door and peeked into it.

There was a boy, about her age and height, with dazzling red spiky hair.

He simply stood there, looking out at konoha through the patio window.

He was wearing such odd attire. He was dressed in mostly black clothing with red patches.

His pants were only long enough to come halfway down his shin, and chains were linked to his pants and jacket, as if binding him. These chains were odd because every link of the chain was spiked on both sides.*

Finally his Jacket, which had the same color scheme as his pants, was fairly normal, except for the insignia on the back of it.

The insignia was a shadowy red imprint of a bird, maybe and eagle, with its' wings spread wide. It looked like a splatter painting in parts, and the bird also seemed to be on fire.*

"Um, excuse me, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked the boy, wishing she didn't sound like she had just been crying.

Did he possibly know Naruto, a friend maybe? He wasn't on the painting.

"You beckoned, and so I came." The boy told her, without turning around.

He had such a soft and deep voice. It both relaxed her, and yet gave off an aura of strength.

"Um what?" Hinata asked.

She hadn't beckoned him, had she?

"I was lost, floating in an endless darkness, and then I heard you call me... and here I am." he told her, not bothering to turn around.

... wait was he fbeing romantic with her? That had nefver happened before, most boys in her class were much more interested in the energetic, more scantily clothed girls in her age group.

'i'm sorry, I don't understand." Hinata replied tentatively, not knowing how she would be able to reject a boys advances.

"If you do not already understand, you never will, one who knows nothing, can understand... nothing." The boy responded in that silky voice.

Now that was an unnecessary insult, Hinata had been called many things in the past, but no-one had the gall to call her stupid.

"Okay, who are you?" Hinata asked, letting the insult fade away from her memory.

The boy seemed to have been caught off guard by the question, and turned around to address her.

He had dazzling yellow gold eyes, and at the bottom of each cheek, was a single whisker-like mark... just like Naruto.

"I'm not entirely sure, I came here searching for a memory, a memory left to rot." The boy said to her.

He looked just like Naruto, if only he had the upper two whisker marks on his cheeks, and golden blond hair... and blue eyes.

Hinata wasn't getting anything out of this guy, he seemed to be speaking in riddles, and though Hinata liked the occasional brain teaser, she was not in that kind of mood right now.

"There were ANBU here today, tearing the place apart, do you know what they were looking for?" Hinata prodded forward.

"A memory, left to rot." The boy responded, before turning back around to stare out of the patio window.

Okaaay...

This guy must be crazy, he sounded like a tape recorder stuck on repeat.

Hinata decided to take matters in her own hand, she was much better at searching than any group of ANBU could be, thanks to her family bloodline of course.

Activating her bloodline Hinata searched the walls, nothing. Then she searched the ceiling, nothing. Finally she searched the floor, Jackpot!

There at a corner, next to Naruto's now mangled bed, was a secret floor compartment, and there was something glowing inside of it.

Hinata rushed toward the corner and was on her knees faster than her brain could command.

She started to claw at the floor, searching for the loose board that she needed to pull in order to get into the compartment.

She managed to get her fingernail in a crevice, and all it took from there was a good pull and the compartment was opened.

She could feel the red haired boy's stare as he turned to see what she was doing.

She also didn't care.

Reaching into the compartment she pulled out a letter, and then a small wooden box.

The letter was not in an envelope and was therefore not intended to be private, so she had no qualms with reading it.

_His presence is becoming more and more apparent to me with each passing day._

_I know what he wants now, and there is nothing I can do to stop him, but that won't prevent me from trying._

_I have hidden them all, and if you're reading this then you have just found one, please go about ensuring this gets to a safer place, where HE can't reach them._

_I can feel him again, he's waking up._

_I won't let him have me._

...

Hinata didn't know what to make of this.

It was certainly in Naruto's handwriting, but it seemed, panicked somehow.

She almost didn't want to know what was in the box... almost.

She practically broke the box in half as she opened it, and inside was a fist sized, blueish green, pearl, that glowed like the sun.

"Oh good you found it, thank you." The boy said to her.

Hinata barely managed to stop herself from jumping, she hadn't noticed that he had gotten that close to her.

Hinata looked from him, to the orb, and back to him, while his gaze remained on the orb.

"You're welcome, but, um, what is it?" Hinata asked tentatively.

His gaze lifted from the orb and fixed onto her. He gave her a look that clearly said 'are you stupid?'

"It's... a... Memory." The boy told her exasperatedly.

Hinata felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry, um, how is it used?" Hinata asked, hoping she didn't make herself look and more stupid.

The boy seemed to ponder that for a moment, before offering his hand.

"Give it to me, and I'll show you." He offered.

Hinata had no reason to distrust this person, and he had been helpful enough with her, though a little rude.

She removed the orb from the box, and held it tentatively in her hand.

She reluctantly extended her arm to offer the orb to him.

The red haired boy reach out to take it, but before he could even touch it there was a flash of blue and red, and the orb had vanished from her hand.

"What the?" The boy said, as he turned towards the bedroom door.

Standing in the door frame was a small blue... creature, with a heart shaped head, and red eyes. (Flood unverse.) And in its' hands, was the memory.

"Get back here, you!" The boy demanded before giving chase.

Hinata joined him immediately.

The blue creature sped off like a lightning bolt through the living room, knocking over Granddaughter Willow as it went.

Hinata and the red haired boy left the uprooted plant and apartment behind as they gave chase.

* * *

(Play working together by yoko whatever the heck his name is)

For nearly six blocks they chased the little blue creature, jumping over fences, climbing roofs, and trampling home gardens along the way.

Finally they managed to corner the little devil at a park next to the Konoha hospital.

"Got ya, you little bastard." The red haired boy said.

"Now, come quietly, and handover what you took, you little thief!" The boy said as he lunged at the creature.

The boy fell flat on his face comically, and Hinata tried with all her might not to laugh at him.

The creature made a break towards the hospital, but Hinata blocked of its' escape.

It held the Memory closer to its' chest, like a football player holding onto a football. Or like a woman holding her child.

It was such an odd reaction that it made Hinata pause, this thing seemed to want the memory more than she did, but boy did she want it.

"All right, nice going, no escaping now." The red haired boy said to her as he blocked the creature from behind.

The little blue thing looked left and right, uncertain about what to do... when four more came to its' rescue.

One bizarre blue creature was enough, but five of them? That presented a problem.

They all scattered, and Hinata quickly activated her byakugan in order to determine which one had the Memory.

"That one!" Hinata yelled to the red haired boy as she pointed at the thief, it was fleeing towards the wooded area to her left.

"On it." The boy responded as he started to chase the little thing.

He was nearly upon the creature when it threw the memory, and another caught it, and started to run in another direction.

"Oh, so it's a game of keep away is it?" The red haired boy asked humorously.

"Let's play?" Hinata said to him, and for the first time since she met him, the boy smiled.

They once again gave chase.

Hinata was nearly upon the second creature, when it too passed it off to one of its' brothers.

"I got it." The boy yelled, as he was already feet away from the little devil.

It immediately threw the Memory to its' closest neighbor, and Hinata rushed in for a successful interception.

"Great, you got it, now you're the center of attention." The red head called out to her.

And he was right, all five of them were now charging at her.

"Pass it." He yelled, and she did so.

The boy caught the orb and one of the creatures was already a foot from him.

"Oh you want this, do ya, do ya?" He teased the creature as he held the orb just out of its' reach.

The poor thing was hopping up and down like a kid trying to reach for a cookie jar.

The red head was too busy fooling around to see the other four sneak up on him, and before he knew it, he was at the bottom of a dog pile.

He must have let go of the memory because Hinata saw it rolling across the grass.

She quickly ran and picked it up before any of the blue creatures could, and was once again the center of attention.

As she ran away the creatures got off of the red head and chased after her.

"PUNT!" The boy yelled as he kicked the nearest creature to him.

The thing flew through the air like a football being kicked into the end zone, and it faded away as it flew, turning into dust.

Wait, why was she running? These things were push overs.

Now that she understood where she stood in terms of physical advantage, she jumped high in the air, and stomped the blue creature that got too close to her.

It vanished in a display of sparkling dust, just as the one that her new friend had kicked.

The other three blue creatures stopped in their tracks and seemed to reconsider their position.

Too late, Hinata's new friend had already caught up to them, and squashed yet another.

The other two decided to run for it, but Hinata was far faster than they could ever dream of being.

Two kunai later and the blue creatures were no more.

"What were those things?" Hinata asked her new friend.

He seemed to have a lot of answers, why not ask him.

"I have no idea, they were fun to play with though weren't they?" He answered.

That they were, but why were they after this 'Memory' as it was called? What's so special about it.

"So , how do you use these Memory things?" Hinata asked now that things had quieted down.

He seemed to have calmed back down at that question, and turned his focus back to the orb in her hand.

"Well, first you...' He paused mid-sentence as he adopted a curious look.

Hinata saw it too, the orb was cracked!, and it was starting to glow brighter.

IT exploded in a ray of light, and when Hinata opened her eyes, she realized that she wasn't in the park anymore.

Instead she was in Naruto's apartment agin, only this time it was clean and undamaged, with party decorations all over the place, but no party.

Instead there was one person, a boy, maybe seven, with golden blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked out loud.

He couldn't hear her, nor could he see her, and Hinata instinctively knew this to be true. But why was she here.

Was this the memory that the sphere contained?

The younger Naruto was wearing a part hat and was sitting at his dining room table, a cupcake sitting in front of him.

"Happy birthday to me." The boy said in a hoarse voice, as if he had been crying.

"Happy birthday to me." The younger Naruto aid again.

With every word he said Hinata felt her heart break a little more.

"Happy birthday dear Naruto..." This time he stopped and gave a horrible sob that just made Hinata want to weep.

"Happy birthday to..."

_Bang, bang bang!_

Naruto jumped out of his seat in shock, and quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe his face clean.

He walked to the door, with more than a little bit of anticipation, and when he opened it there two people, whom Hinata recognized immediately as Ayame and Teuchi Ichiraku.

Ayame looked to be in her age group now, twelve or thirteen.

"Hey kid.." Teuchi greeted.

"Happy birthday" The twelve year old Ayame yelled joyously as she threw herself on Naruto in a warm hug.

"Don't fret, we brought presents!" She said enthusiastically thrusting a delicately wrapped box into the seven year old Naruto's hand.

The rest of the memory sped by in a daze of joy as Naruto received his first ever birthday present, and had his first ever birthday party.

"This was the first time I experienced happiness, in this true of a form." A male voice said from behind her.

She wheeled around to see... Naruto.

Only this time it was the Naruto she knew, he was as tall as she was and looked as lively as can be. But, there was something off about him. He was transparent for one thing.

"I'm glad to have been able to share this with you Hinata." Naruto said, smiling a toothy grin.

And that's when Hinata saw it. His whiskers, he was missing them. He only had two, just like the red haired boy, only this Naruto had the middle whiskers only.

Hinata felt the world around her vanishing, and her own time calling her back. She reached out to try and touch him, she opened her mouth and tried to call out to him, but she could neither move nor speak.

Next thing Hinata knew she was thrust face first onto the grassy field she had just left, the glass orb reduced to white sand in her hand.

"What happened, one minute you were here and then you vanished?" The boy said to her.

Hinata was gasping for air, as she was recovering from what she had just seen. When he saw that she was having some difficulty regaining her feet the boy offered her his hand, which she gratefully accepted.

"I was in the memory, and it was Naruto's." Hinata gasped.

He gave her a look, a look she couldn't quite place, but reminded her of the look he gave her when he thought she was stupid.

"And what transpired." He prodded further.

Hinata felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment again. Why does she keep making herself look like fool in front of this boy, and more importantly, why did she care.

"Oh, um, it was his seventh birthday, long before I met him. It was just a really happy memory, maybe his very first one." Hinata summarized.

The boy nodded his head in understanding, as if he had already known. But something struck Hinata as inappropriate, ans she decided to correct it.

"You know, I don't even know your name. What is it?" Hinata asked.

The boy paused for a moment, and considered the question seriously.

"I don't have one.' He answered simply.

Hinata thought he was joking, and so she pressed further.

"Oh come on now, everyone has a name, or at the very least needs one." She reasoned.

"Very well then, if they're so important why don't you give me one?" He retorted.

This completely threw Hinata off. She hadn't been expected that response at all.

Apparently he was serious, and so Hinata began to take him seriously in return. After a good thirty seconds of thinking Hinata finally decided on a name.

"How about Nexus (As suggested by Fox of the Blood Moon, a reviewer, Love the name by the way..)" Hinata offered.

The newly dubbed Nexus was silent for a moment as he rolled the word over his tongue, trying to get a taste for it.

"You asked me to name you, so I gave you a name, no going back now." Hinata reasoned.

Nexus sighed in exasperation and scratched his red hair. But he seemed to have accepted his loss.

"Very well then, from this day forward, I shall be known as Nexus." He exclaimed in an announcing voice.

Hinata was happy to have made this new friend.

It was then and there that they decided to hunt down the rest of the memories, and Hinata decided, just before going to bed that night, that she would tell the rest of the genin what had happened, and maybe introduce Nexus to them all.

* * *

Shin'ai Nara sat up from her desk at the sound of a knock on her bedroom door.

She stood up and creased her pants with her hands before stating that her guest may enter.

She had not been expecting Danzo himself to grace her with his presence, and she immediately lowered herself into a bow.

"Master Danzo, I am pleased to see you again." She greeted.

"And I you. I heard you were injured this afternoon, how are you recovering?" He asked is concern.

Shin'ai touched her bandaged abdomen where a shard of glass had pierced her, and suppressed a wince.

"I believe I will be fine sir. Do you have some form of business you would like me to attend to?" Shin'ai asked, knowing that her superior was most certainly not her just to check on her well being.

"But of course, now if you would be so kind as to follow me." Danzo ordered as he turned around and left the room.

Shin'ai obediently followed.

The two were now walking down a hallway, laced with brick and iron plating.

They were in ANBU headquarters, and Shin'ai had spent her afternoon and evening thus far being debriefed on what had transpired on that day.

"You are aware of the documents and journals retrieved from the village outskirts this, morning?" Danzo clarified.

"Yes sir, I was present at the time." She answered truthfully.

"Excellent, due to your injured state I am dismissing your previous mission quota for the month, and assigning you the task of studying the documents and journal." Danzo informed her.

Her first feeling was of anger and resentment, as she loved being in combat situations, her second was of gratitude as this was probably for her own good.

"Thank you, master, for your concern." Shin'ai said in a low tone.

"No need to throw away a good soldier." Danzo said nonchalantly in return.

They were nearing the deciphering and messaging center.

Shin'ai was positive that this is where the documents were being kept.

"Will anyone be working with me?" Shin'ai asked.

"Yes there are three other individuals working with you, you may ask them for any kind of assistance you desire." Danzo said as he stopped and opened a door.

He froze for a second, but only a second.

"Or not." He said in a monotone.

Shin'ai looked past him to see a drawing room, and strewn around it were three, unmistakably dead, individuals.

There was a door on the other side of the room and shadows could be seen on the other side of it.

Both master and student rushed past the three dead fellows and stormed into the room where the assailants were.

They came face to face with a pair of, apparently male, individuals.

They were both wearing armor, one black and red, the other white and blue. Both were armored from head to toe with armor that appeared to be of a single solid mass, and both had unfamiliar markings on their bodies and helmets. (They look like Vanitas and Vanitas sentiment, but the armor is spiked, the black one has a heartless insignia, and the white a nobody.)

The one with black armor was holding the documents that Shin'ai was tasked with investigating, and she was already running through countless scenarios of confrontation.

"Hand it over this second, and then probptly die." Danzou ordered.

"This is dangerous knowledge, and we will not permit it to fall into your hands, it will destroy you, and many others." The black and red armored man informed them.

"Do not pursue us, and do not persue these documents." The white armored figure further warned them.

A shadow appeared on the ground and seemed to have come to life.

Before their very eyes a ball of flaming shadow with eyes and a gaping maw materialized before them. (It's like a cross between the darkball from kh1, and the bombs from final fantasy. Dark bombs.)

The man in black armor tossed all of the documents to the creature, which quickly swallowed it.

The creature began to expand and became larger, much larger, and was still expanding by the time that the man with black armor waved a hand.

Living shadows began to consume the creature, and Shin'ai knew that it was being teleported somewhere else, so she did the only reasonable thing a person in that situation could do.

She dived into the darkness after the creature.

Next thing Shin'ai knew she was in an endless abyss, the only source of light being the expanding creature.

She pulled her hand back and formed the most powerful blade of wind chakra that she could, before probptly slicing the creature in half.

It exploded in a display of fire and shadow.

Shin'ai was thrown back with such force that she passed back through the portal from whence she came, and found herself in the middle of the shopping district, several miles away from where she had been before.

The dark portal closed behind her, but not before several slips of paper came out of it.

She collected the papers and discover them to be titled Naruto's journal pg 1, 7, and 32, and Naruto's report #1.

Not even a minute into it she had already failed her mission, and she already knew what her new one was.

Now she would probably be stuck collecting all of the journal entries and reports.

Oh, joy.

* * *

_**Well, there we go, hope you all liked it.**_

_**You should all be able to guess who the heartless and nobody duo is, no it's not Naruto's halves.**_

_***The chains on Nexus' getup are the same that Kushina used to restran the nine tailed fox.**_

_**Yes, Nexus is Naruto's heartless.**_

_**Things are going to get really heated now, I hope you're all ready.**_

_**Leave your reviews below.**_


	4. A relaxing day ruined

**_In response to reviews:_**

**_1) Yes, Naruto's friends will be seeing more of Naruto's memories... a lot more. The story slightly revolves around them for a good long while._**

**_2) No. the people in the armor were not Naruto's heartless and nobody. Naruto's nobody is Trauxon, and his heartless is nexus._**

**_Moving on._**

_**And this chapter revolves around team Gai, let's begin.**_

* * *

(I NEED A BETA. As is proofreader and unpayed eployee to contact communities and such. someone to share ideas with, and help improve the story)

Neji sat on the riverbank, lost in his own thoughts. Thoughts that tended to revolve around his own misery.

He cast another stone into the stream and watched as its' surface rippled.

Neji liked nature. It was simple and predictable, despite being wild and untamed. It had laws that it obeyed, and for the most part could not be broken.

If only society were the same.

Laws could be broken, crimes committed and things that he wished would stay the same, were inevitably, and undeniably, short lived.

"Neji, are you ready?" Tenten whispered from her perch above him, on the bridge.

He wasn't, so he didn't respond.

Instead he opted to let his feet sink into the water, displacing the soil underneath it.

The water rushed between his toes and soaked all of his conically sore joints, it was so soothing.

It always helped him to relax, to calm down, and to let go of the things that would break his peace.

Neji dipped his hand into the water and grabbed two more stones from the sandy bed beneath it.

He dropped one into the water, and watched the same fractal design, the one he had seen so many times before, radiate from the point of impact.

Why had he expected it to last?

Had he not learned from the past, he could have sworn he had.

Why had he grown fond of that blonde idiot, when he knew fate would take him away, just like his father, and just like his teammates undoubtedly would.

There was no reason behind it, no natural laws to explain why these things happened. Death and time were the only things that he could not grasp.

He could not define them, they obeyed almost no laws, and were more wil and untamable than nature itself.

Neji heard the unmistakably loud, and obnoxious, footsteps of his other teammate, Lee. Which meant it was time to go meet up with their senior.

He felt something wet drip down his hand, and looking down, he saw a splash of red in the water.

Apparently he had been squeezing the rock he held, and opening his hand, he realized it had somewhat sharp edges.

Neji sighed and chucked the stone as hard as he could, which was considerably hard, before rinsing his hand off and stepping out of the water.

It was odd, being numb as he was. No amount of physical pain could wake you up from the daze.

Neji would know, he had been numb for years after his fathers untimely demise, and had only woken up from that daze recently.

He had Naruto to blame for that.

He doubted he'd ever wake from this new one.

Which was fine by him, because he didn't want to wake up from this daze.

"All right." Neji said to his teammates.

He quickly got out of the water before putting his sandals back on

"Let's get going."

* * *

**_Excerpt from Naruto's Journal: Page 10_**

**_Ah victim-hood, I know it well, for I used to dwell in it._**

**_But I have observed full grown adults, particularly women as they seem to have a monopoly on victimhood, pretend to be victims, or in many cases honestly believe they are, when they are not._**

**_So I set out to find real victims, people who have really suffered, and guess what, I found them._**

**_Oh, woe is me, woe is me, 'I was raped,' or 'I was beaten', or 'I was robbed', SO WHAT!_**

**_I was all of those things and more, but surely I wasn't wallowing in self pity and denial like these people were, blaming everyone else for my misfortune... was I?_**

**_I decided that there are two kinds of people in life, the latter of which was once the former in most cases._**

**_There are those who suffer, and then cry about it, becoming victims, begging for attention and pity from those around them, as they obviously don't deserve respect._**

**_Then, there are those who either refuse to, or are tired, of crying over their misfortune, and cease being victims, and decide to become the villains instead._**

**_Most people choose the former, as it is much easier and requires no effort, but some, choose the latter._**

**_But those who choose to evolve from victim from villain, truly benefit._**

**_Those in big banking "choose" to stop being ripped off by others, and now do the ripping off, drowning themselves in wealth, glutony, and sex. Gaining everything they ever dreamed of, and though the poor hate them for it, and claim it is evil, these people are truly living life._**

**_Those who are robbed, either continue to get robbed, or become thieves themselves, those who are raped, male and female alike, either cry about it, or become ravenous consumers of the carnal pleasures themselves, sometimes legally, sometimes not so much._**

**_There is no halfway point, there is no living peacefully. In human society, you are either victim, or villain. It's your choice!_**

**_And you know what, I "CHOOSE" to be a villain. It's a much more fulfilling life._**

**_The question is, what do I become the villain of? I've suffered in so many ways._**

* * *

"Guard duty, they have us doing GUARD duty!" Lee screamed in indignation.

Neji wished he hadn't, because the yelling was preventing him from going to sleep. Crying tended to make one tired, and the south gate of Konoha was the most quiet and peaceful place to guard.

"Stop complaining, I honestly think it gives us a nice change of pace, some time to relax." Tenten retorted.

'Then why won't you two just relax'... is what Neji wanted to say, but he just didn't have the energy.

Maybe, just maybe, if he tilted his head properly, they wouldn't notice him go to sleep.

"Hey Neji." Lee asked.

Oh god!

"Yes, Lee?" Neji responded curtly, with just a little bit of venom mixed in.

Take the hint, take the hint, take the hint!

"Have you heard the report about the odd creatures roaming the streets at night?" Lee asked.

... What?

Neji simply shook his head, having a little bit of difficulty processing thoughts at this point, he hoped this conversation was going somewhere.

"And what might these 'creatures' look like?" Neji prodded.

"The descriptions are varied and inconsistent. Maybe they're shapeshifters!" Lee said enthusiastically.

Neji had to admit, this conversation was at the very least entertaining.

"My father suggested that they might be the product of a summoning contract, maybe one that isn't so 'natural' as an contract with animals." Tenten replied.

The dredges of sleep that were plaguing Neji vanished instantly at that. There was no possible way that Tenten had just suggested, what he thought she was suggesting.

"Tenten, stop the conversation right there." Neji instructed her.

Honestly, who would seriously consider a summoning contract with demons and spirits to be a legitimate cause for the recent going-ons?

"Oh, but you must have been told the same bedtime stories as a kid as we were." Lee countered.

Yes, he had been, and then some. The Hyuuga have a staggering catalog of myths and legends of histery and prehistory that most shinobi haven't heard, but he didn't attribute them to actual history, but as stories with moral value.

"I certainly have, but I am unwilling to believe that somebody not only signed a summoning contract with demons, but has also unleashed them upon Konoha. Besides, how would one recognize a demon when they saw one?" Neji answered.

He regretted the words the moment he said them. He had just opened a whole new can of worms, judging by the looks of ponder on his teammates faces.

"Maybe they're horned and spiny, with red skin, and to top it off, maybe they breath fire!" Lee exclaimed.

"Nonsense, they would be scaly or slimy, and they'd be water demons, like the Kapa!" Tenten argued.

"You're both wrong. They are living shadows rendered solid, with large antenna and solid yellow eyes. (Neoshadow)" Neji informed them.

Lee and Tenten gave each-other a curious look, wondering how Neji could sound so certain.

"And how would you know that?" Tenten asked.

Neji simply lifted a finger and pointed to his left.

Two blocks away stood a creature matching his exact description, sniffing the ground. It was holding a small blue orb in its' right hand.

The shadow-being stood up straight and turned to them, and for a moment had a staring contest with the trio, before taking off into the village.

"After it!" Tenten screamed.

All three of them took after the bizarre creature, leaving their unattended post behind them.

* * *

During the chase so far, Neji had determined three facts about their target.

The first was that it was most definitely not human.

Secondly, it could de-materialize into shadow and faze through objects. They had almost lost it several times as it passed through entire buildings, but fortunately Neji had his families bloodline at his disposal, and he never once let it get out of sight.

The third thing he determined was that the object the creature carried was of great importance, and he had to have it.

"To the right!" Neji instructed his teammate's as the shadowy being fazed into a siburban home, and exited it on the east facing side.

The screams of what Neji assumed was the mother of the household was almost comical.

Lee decided that going over the building was the best option, whereas Tenten and Neji decided going through the hedge-groves on the right side of it was more prudent.

Their chase had led them into the shopping districts. Apparently this particular home was a winemaker, after all, the only people who grew grapes in Konoha were winemakers, people didn't usually eat the fruits after all.

Getting back to the situation at hand, the street was more than a little busy with late afternoon shoppers, but for some reason the entire street didn't erupt into panic at the appearance of a five foot tall shadowy demon.

The aforementioned demon on the other hand froze when confronted with a mob of angry shoppers.

When Neji, Tenten and Lee all came to surround the creature from behind, preventing any retreat on its' part, it turned to face them.

It was obviously intelligent, as it deemed them more of a threat than the civilians in the street.

If he was lucky Neji might be able to kill or subdue the creature without causing a riot in the street, so long as they were inconspicuous about it.

Neji took a slow, steady step towards the creature, and presented himself in as nonthreatening a manner as possible.

"Listen, I don't know if you can understand me, but I mean you no..."

WHAM!

A broad, disembodied, canine-like claw materialized over the creature and crushed it into dust on the pavement. The creature itself vanished in a puff of shadowy whisps.

A low, viscous growl sounded from where the shadowy demon once was, and the entire street went silent.

With his byakugan activated Neji could just make out a massive misty shape over the visible claw.

The blue color of the claw began to expand as the charmed beast began to reveal itself.

The foreleg of the right paw was the first to be revealed, as the remaining three paws came into existence. Slowly the other legs materialized as the hips and chest just started to peak out of their hiding spaces.

As the beasts' broad chest materialized it revealed an odd two piece heart insignia (Unversed) that was a black color as opposed to the translucent blue that the rest of the beasts' body boasted.

Finally the beasts massive head came back into existence, revealing a gnarled canine mug, which was very fox-like(Hint hint).

The beast was at least ten feet tall while on all fours, maybe twice as tall if it were to stand on its' rear legs.

The giant blue fox-beast roared mightily, and the people in the street, predictably, trampled each-other in panic as they fled the scene.

"So what do you guys think?" Tenten asked casually.

Lee and Neji both tilted their heads toward the female member of their group, not at all willing to turn away from the monster that confronted them.

"Bail?" Tenten offered.

Neji turned back towards the beast and faced it fully.

"Bail.' Neji and Lee agreed.

But before they even took a step to flee the scene until bakc-up arrived, the beast turned around and began to walk away.

It slowly vanished as it placed the illusion back around itself, and fled the scene along with the citizens.

The trio was left in silence, staring around at an empty shopping district.

"... Well that was odd." Tenten pondered out loud.

Neji felt something rub against his foot, and looking down, realized that the round blue object that the shadow demon had been carrying had rolled over to him.

Why hadn't the fox taken it? Isn't that what it had attacked the shadow demon for?

Neji kneeled down to pick it up, but the moment he touched it he and his teammates were enveloped by a blinding light, and the next thing he knew he was standing in the academy... only, it was different.

It was stale and cold, without any color

"What is going on?" Neji gasped out.

* * *

**_Exerpt from Naruto's journal: Page 45_**

**_I have to hide it, but where?_**

**_He has access to my mind, thus my secrets, but there must be a way to keep "it" from him. There's too much at stake to let him win._**

**_I already hid my most valuable possessions in the orbs, and entrusted them to Naruko, but can she aslo handle this added responsibility?_**

**_I don't have much of a choice, I know she'll do her best to get it to someone trustworthy, just like the memories._**

**_I wish her the best of luck. She'll need it._**

* * *

Gai had just arrived on the scene when his disciples vanished in a flash of blue light, and he was, to put it simply, freaking out!

He rushed to the spot where they had vanished and skidded to a halt.

He was trying very hard to keep his composure.

The ground where his preteen disciples vanished was dyed an odd shade of blue with multicolored wave marks. A few yards away from it was a black, almost scorched section of concrete.

He couldn't help but ponder what form of jutsu his discipless were experimenting with to create these effects. He had certainly never seen anything like it.

His students re-materialized with a loud pop, and Gai practically jumped out of his skin, fortunately his green spandex suit prevented his from doing so.

"Wha- what the hell?" Gai sputtered out.

Neji had a dazed look about him, with eyes dilated(or so he thought, he couldn't tell with the byakugan and all), like he were looking off into the distance.

He tried waving his hand in front of their eyes and snapping his fingers, and they came back from space.

"What was that all about? Neji, you do the reporting." Gai instructed.

Neji shook his head to clear his mind and compose himself, it must have worked because the word that came out of his mouth were concise and direct.

"We pursued a creature we cannot identify at this time into the shopping district, at which time an enormous aqua colored canine eliminated it, before fleeing the scene itself." Neji reported.

"Furthermore the unidentified creature dropped a fist sized blue orb which upon inspection revealed a memory to us, a memory belonging to one Uzumaki Naruto." Neji finished.

Gai nodded dumbly not sure of what he should say in response to that.

It must have been a genjutsu placed within an object. Even thoguh had never met the boy, his students had told him all about him, including the fact that his genjutsu skills were terrible.

This didn't add up.

"What was the memory of?" Gai prodded further.

All three of his students returned to spacing out at the mention of the memory, but with a snap of his fingers Gai managed to wake them back up.

"It was a memory of the time we first met him, only, it was from Naruto's point of view." Neji mumbled out

Gai nodded knowingly, even though he was beyond confused.

"You three are dismissed, and although I don't condone leaving your post unattended, you all should go home." Gai instructed them.

The three of them trotted of is a slow and morbid march down the street, just as it started to refill with shoppers.

Gai had to report this to his superiors and fellow jonin. Strange things were happening, and he wanted to relate with his allies, see if there is any corroboration.

* * *

Team Gai entered the flower shop in their still morbid mood.

As far as the eye could see there was every kind of flower from tulips, to violets, to a big thorny rose bush. To top it off the speakers in the shop were playing Golden Afternoon (^^).

"So what should we get for him?" Lee pondered.

"Something to express how much we miss him. Something bright and joyous that properly represents him." Neji whispered back.

Tenten ran to the the counter and let the boys to talk about what they don't know.

When she saw Ino at the counter she was struck with an instance of inspiration.

"Hey, hey Ino I have a proposition for you." Tenten told the younger girl.

The look of pleasant surprise Ino had on her face from seeing an older friend vanished and was replaced with a bit of curiosity.

"Okay, what can I do for you?" Ino asked.

"Well first things first, I need a flower arrangement for Naruto, please just fix one up for me, and I want you to tell your teammates to meet up with us at the BBQ Shack, as well as anybody else you trust. There's some odd shit going down and we need to talk about it." Tenten told her.

The younger blond nodded slowly as she came to understand what her senior instructed her to do.

Tenten remained at the counter, her money prepared, as Ino ran around the store creating an arrangement of Camphorweed, dandelions, two yellow clovers, and one magnificent sunflower.

"All right, here you are. That'll be twenty, I'll cover the rest of it." Ino told her.

Tenten didn't argue against that, this was the cheapest flower arrangement she'd ever even heard of. So she gladly forked up the cash and walked back to the boys who were inspecting some passion flowers.

"All right, I'll go put these in Naruto's apartment. In the meantime, Neji, you be sure to get your little cousin to invite her teammates to the BBQ Shack tomorrow, I'm setting up a meeting between Naruto's friends.

Neji simply nodded and walked away, obviously not wanting to visit his blonde friend when the wound was still fresh.

Lee did the same, but for some reason Tenten always had difficulty reading Gai junior.

But with everything set up, Tenten made the long walk to Naruto's apartment, preparing herself for the waterworks that were sure to come.

* * *

_**And finished.**_

_**I think that could have gone better, but hey, any chapter is better than no chapter am I right?**_

_**Only one Disney reference, but I didn't really have much time to poor over old Disney movies this time.**_

_**I hope you all enjoyed this one, I still have tons of ideas for this and know exactly where I want to take it.**_

_**"If anybody can guess who Naruto is referrin to in his reports when he says "Him" or "He", then youare the man. Send in your guesses in the reviews."**_

_**And also, please review.**_


	5. Enter Nexus

_**I have a new obsession, and I recently discovered two Anime's that i immediately fell in love with. from now on I'll be shariong some of my loves with you.**_

_**One is titled Bakemonogatari. the first two episodes are not a good example of what the rest ofv the series is like. If i were to describe it, it has the humor and character development of "Clanned", with some off the mythology and occassional horror of "hell girl'. I absolutely love it.**_

_**Go to youtue and type in "Bakemonogatari, cat, tongue twister", without the exclamation points of course. that will tell you everything you needto know about the anime.**_

_**The other one is Mirai Nikki, which is a lot like Deadman Wonderland. if you don;t know what Deadman wonderland is "Get the fuck off of my profile!"**_

_**In Response to Reviews:**_

_**Shadow wolf zero: Actually the memory that the three witnessed was described in the first chapter by Naruto. When he met the Taijutsu Trio.**_

_**Aaan, that's all I got. Here we go.**_

* * *

"Sasuke, Sasuke wake up!" Sakura screamed into the dark haired boys ear.

He jerked awake and fixed her with his constant glare.

He closed his eyes, intent on returning to his meditation, but he knew better than to think

"Go where?" Sasuke grumbled.

She had only just arrived and yet she was already causing issues.

"All the passing teams, as well as an older team of genin, are having a get together this afternoon." Sakura informed him.

"Good for them." Sasuke grumbled.

Even with his eyes closed he could clearly picture her sucking in a lungful of air ready to plead her case. If you could call it that. She seemed to be under the impression that whoever yelled the loudest won a debate as opposed to the person who delivered the most conclusive 'FACTS'. (Ladies, you know it's true.)

Before she could do any damage to his inner ear, Sasuke raised a hand to silence her.

Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out his stop-watch. Apparently they still had several hours before Kakashi arrived, if his normal rate of tardiness was any indication.

He put the watch back into his pocket and stood up, while stretching his muscles silently and without any inconspicuous movements.

"All, right. Where to?" Sasuke asked.

"The BBQ Shack." Sakura answered.

Apparently some consideration had been put into Choji's well-being.

"Let's get going then, we're burning daylight." Sasuke called over to Sai, who had joined him in his meditation.

He opened his eyes but did not budge, obviously not wanting to leave the area he had been instructed to be.

"Oh, Kakashi told me to inform you two that he won't be joining us today." Sakura called out to them, as she had already taken off in a run.

Well that cleared up their schedule pretty nicely, didn't it?

Sai gave up his reluctance to follow and began his own walk towards the infamous artery clogging restaraunt.

* * *

Tenten was more than a little pleased with the crowd she had summoned.

At that moment eleven people were seated in their private booth. A good thing the joint had a booth big enough to seat them all, apparently it was normally reserved for birthday parties.

Besides herself and her teammates, she had team seven which included Sai, Sasuke, and Sakura. Team 9 which included Choji, Shikamaru and Ino, and lastly team eight which included Kiba and Shino.

Wait, where was Hinata?

She leaned over towards her teammate, the less energetic one, and whispered in his ear.

"Neji, where is your baby cousin?" Tenten whispered to the boy who was trying to enjoy his iced tea, and a book that he was reading "through" the table.

He ceased his drinking and turned towards her.

"I am going to be very clear, as the answer I am about to give you should be referred to whenever I am asked of my cousins location." He informed her.

He brought a fist to his mouth and caughed in a display of clearing his throat. He then looked up ready to give her, his answer.

"I - do - not - know." He growled at her.

"Nor do I care." He finished as he brought his drink back to his mouth.

Ah yes, every, now and then she needed a reminder as to just how much of a skank her only female teammate was. (It was a mental insult people. I do realize that Neji is a boy.)

Tenten was going to make a verbal retort, but was cut off by a flash of red that pervaded her, and everybody else's, vision.

A boy in their age group, clad in all red and black and with hair and eyes to match skidded to a halt just in front of their booth. The spiked chains hanging from his waistband rattling along the way.

In her professional opinion the boy looked 'EXACTLY' like Naruto, with the exception of the red hair and eyes, and of course Naruto had six straight lines on his face, this boy only had two.

"Good morning gentlemen... ladies." He added as an afterthought.

"My name is Nexus, and I was invited to dine with you on this gorgeous afternoon by the ever so polite, and lovely..." He paused for dramatic effect, spreading his arms to the left.

When after a few moments nobody entered their sights, Nexus turned to his right, Tenten's left, and jerked his head towards them, as if encouraging somebody to proceed.

With one hand covering her crimson face and the other waving at the group Hinata entered the scene, obviously embarrassed at her friends antics, and maybe just a little flustered at being referred to as 'lovely'.

"Hinata!" he finished his earlier statement.

Tenten couldn't come up with an adjective to describe the scene to be perfectly honest; Loony, energetic, jesting?

Nexus, being the gentleman that he was, took the last free seat on her left side, right next to Sakura, and leaving Hinata standing.

It was one of those restaurant booths that had a single padded couch stretched along the wall, and now the seat less end of the table, opposite Tenten, was the only space available.

Fortunately at that moment a young waitress passed by.

"Excuse me ma'am." Nexus said, causing her to pause.

At this point the entire group, Tenten included, were frozen, unable to make heads or tails of this newcomer, a few individuals, Neji among them, had their jaws hanging just inches from the floor.

"Listen, my good friend here has been left without a seat, would you be so kind as to bring us a chair for her?" Nexus asked politely.

The young woman simply nodded her head and exited the booth, when she reappeared she was carrying a small, but comfortable looking wooden chair, padding included.

"Thank you." Hinata said politely.

The woman turned heal and walked away, while Hinata prepared to take her seat, but was stopped by Nexus.

"Here, let me help you with that." He offered as he stood up beside her.

Oddly enough he pushed the chair in so that Hinata couldn't sit in it. This guy was more of a jackass than Neji was. But his main goal was then revealed to them, as he pulled the chair back out again so that Hinata could sit.

The entire procession broke out in laughter as Hinata did the most adorable curtsy to the boy who went out of his way to pull her chair out for her. Unless she was mistaken even Neji had a grin on his face.

Hinata took her seat and Nexus pushed her chair in, ensuring her comfort.

Afterwards Nexus took his seat next to Sakura and put his arm over her shoulder, just where it wouldn't touch her. She either didn't notice or didn't mind. Tenten assumed the latter.

* * *

After all of the introductions were made, and Nexus started to get friendly with everyone, the waitress reappeared, ready to take their orders.

A few minutes later two pounds of raw beef, two pounds of raw pork, and a whole duck were delivered to them. The latter was ordered by Nexus who claimed that it was like chicken, only more flavorful and with better texture, as wild animals normally were.

Choji got the grills at the center of the table roaring, and the barbeque began.

"And then I jumoed down and toatally drop kicked her in the face!" Nexus concluded his story.

At this point the entire procession couldn't keep their eyes off of the guy. Shino in particular was paying close attention to Nexus.

"And you're certain that this woman was an ANBU?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

Nexus was chewing a piece of duck that he had already grilled to perfection, but that didn't stop him from answering.

"Trrttrry ger." Nexus tried to say while spitting out half of the food that was in his mouth.

Sakura, who was sitting right next to the red haired boy, looked ready to slap him for his poor manners, but she probably wasn't sure if she could get away with it. Having not known him very long she probably wasn't sure if he had any qualms with defending himself against a girl.

Nexus managed to get the last of his food down with a mighty gulp, and proceeded to answer the implied question.

"Totally yea, I even snagged all of her goods, including a book full of fun facts and a ninja scroll that I can seem to get open." Nexus boasted.

He then pulled out a metal encased scroll and started twisting it at both ends.

When his face began turning the same shade of red as his hair he decided that it would instead, be a better idea to start gnawing at one end.

He made the most hilarious growling sound when he did it too, which is why it almost broke Hianta's heart to demand it from him.

He reluctantly gave it up.

* * *

"When I find that piece of shit ginger, I'm going to rip out his teeth one by one, and FEED THEM BACK TO HIM!" Shinai raged out loud.

She was currently holding a bloodied rag against her broken nose, so she doubted that the startled passersby actually understood what she had just said.

Despite all of her training meant to erase her emotional capacities, she was still unmistakably ANGRY!, and the graffitti that painted her half-nude body was doing nothing for her mood.

Danzo was not going to be happy either.

* * *

While Hinata peered at the scroll with her byakugan, Nexus reached into his jacket and pulled a small journal from an inside pocket.

"As I said, I snagged this off of an anbu, it includes pages from what appears to be the journal of one Naruto Uzumaki, and sketches and data on the creatures we've seen." Nexus informed them.

The entire table sat up a little straighter at the mention of Naruto, and you could feel the raw desire everyone felt towards that little book. They all wanted it...badly.

Nexus opened it up and proceeded to explain what he had discovered.

'What i know so far is that the black creature team Gai encountered is what's known as a heartless. It is the dark essence of a person, who has been torn from their body. An look, they have their own insignia." Nexus told them

He turned the book around to show them a page with a picture of a heart-shaped insignia. And on the other page.

"Wait, that's the heartless we persued." Tenten exclaimed.

Nexus nodded agreeingly.

"Yup, neo-shadows. Nasty buggers there. These ones aren't full halves of a person, but are actually fashioned from raw darkness in and of themselves. They are apparently very rare, but some of these journal entries allude to a possible power source, one that can be used to create a nigh infinite onslaught of heartless." Nexus informed them.

He held the journal up so everyone could see two pages with complex writings involving mathematics that were beyond most of them. Sakura was already reading it intently, probably deciphering it as she went.

"Artificial heartless are supposed to be a single black mass with few defining features, whereas true heartless, heartless born from ripping a person in half, will have the insignia on it, and are much more powerful than the pure heartless... in most cases at least." Nexus told them.

(Square enix is very inconsistant with this. In KH1 with indigina heartless were artificial, in 356/2 days and kh2 you could only release real hearts from heartless that had the insignia, so I'm sticking to the KH2 version. Insignia = was once human.)

So if the creature Tenten and her teammates had hunted down was an artificial heartless, how nasty would a true heartless be?

"But wait a minute, if a heartless in only half of a person, what happens to the other half?" Sasuke asked, breaking his normal code of silence.

Nexus nodded at the dark boy as he recognized how important of a question it was.

"The body left behind in the process of creating a heartless, becomes what Naruto describes as a "Nobody", a body without a soul, mind, or heart." Nexus informed them.

A question occurred to Tenten, but Hinata beat her to the punch.

"Were those blue creatures you and I came across nobodies?" Hinata said in her normally quiet voice.

Nexus shook his head so vigorously that Tenten worried he might injure his neck.

"No, they most certainly were not. I have no idea what those creatures were, but they aren't nobodies. In fact only one nobody has been spotted thus far and he was spotted with his heartless counterpart." Nexus informed them as he turned the page once more.

He showed them the next two pages, which showed two nearly identical individuals, clad in armor. They looked exactly the same except for one was in white armor with what must have been the Nobody insignia, and the other was black with the Heartless insignia on his breast.

"The odd thing is both were capable of speech and coherent thought, which neither nobodies or heartless should be capable of, this person kept his sense of self, in both halves, and he may be responsible for the heartless or... whatever those blue things are." Nexus wrapped up.

He didn't seem to have much more to say, or was willing to share, because he closed the book then and there. But there were still questions left unanswered.

"If Heartless can be artificially created, can the same be done with Nobodies?"

Nexus adopted an insane smile,that for some reason suited him.

"I have no idea, but that's a brilliant thought. I suppose it's a shame Naruto never attempted to do so... or perhaps he did..." He became carried away with that thought.

While Nexus was floating in space the rest of them recoiled from what he had just suggested. Naruto... creating monsters?

"What have you figured out about the process of creating artificial heartless?" Shino asked.

It was a dark curiosity that boy had.

"Not much. There are a few basic requirements, one of which naruto couldn;'t find. It's called "kingdom hearts" and it has two halves, like the heartless and nobodies. It has a body, hidden somewhere, but needs a MASSIVE power source or heartless energy to be made whole." Nexus told them.

Something like that existed? Where in the world could something like that be hidden? Is it even hidden?

Tenten didn't like where the conversation was heading, and apparently neither did Hinata.

"You never did tell me what you were doing in Naruto's home, nor what your relationship was with him." Hinata asked.

Although it wasn't what Tenten was going to ask, it was an important question, and it did snap Nexus out of his musings.

"Well of course I haven't, you never asked."

"...and?"

"And what?"

"Are you going to tell us?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you still haven't asked the question you want me to answer."

Tenten didn't know if she hated the boy or loved him, but she had to admit, she had never seen Hinata so thoroughly flustered.

"Why were you in Naruto's house, and what was your relationship to him?" Hinata finally asked.

"Two very good questions, both of which share the same answer, which is, wait for it..." Nexus paused and put his hands up for silence in a comical way.

"I don't know." He finished with a shrug.

"How do you not know what you were doing there, and you obviously knew the boy. I say he's lying!" Ino bursted out.

Tenten half-expected the rest of the group to bang on the table with shouts of "YEAH!" but it never came.

"Ignoring the accusation, let me say this. Two days ago I didn't even know my name, if I even had one." Nexus said.

"Amnesia? That's such an overused plot point." Sakura suggested.

"Maybe, Though I do have some memories, all of which involve the boy known as Naruto, and on occasion I seem to know things that I shouldn't." Nexus explained. "And stop breaking the third barrier, okay Pinky?"(Haha)

Sakura nodded her understanding.

"Did you ever consider getting medical attention, maybe you should have your head checked out." Sakura suggested.

"No, I will not go to a hospital. Interesting fact about me, I hate them and don't know why." Nexus answered.

They were getting off topic, and as interesting as this new member of their group was, there were more important things to attend to.

"You said there were pages from Naruto's personal journal in there, did he create the heartless?" Shikamaru asked, finally breaking his silence.

Nexus put down the glass he was drinking from and seemed to consider the question before answering.

"No, maybe, I don't think so." Nexus answered.

Oh great, he was being vague.

"I think it's more likely that somebody robbed his place, and used Naruto's discoveries and documentation to create the Heartless, turning theory into reality." Nexus surmised

"Though he did create several things before his disappearance, proving his theories long before these monsters were unleashed, that I know for a fact, though what he created, I'm not certain of." Nexus finished.

Everybody still had endless questions to ask him, but it was becoming obvious that this boy didn't have all of the answers. Thus, just one last question is in order.

"But on another note, Hinata, how are things going with that scroll?" Nexus asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it opens when you press these hidden switches like this." Hinata explained.

She placed three different spots on the artful metal surface of the scroll and it popped open.

She unrolled the foot long scroll inside of it and tilted her head in confusion as she looked at it.

"Care to share your finds with us?" Sai said offhandedly from across the table.

She ignored him as she finished reading the mission that had been assigned to the ANBU, Nexus had robbed.

"Nexus, what is 'The Hive', exactly?" Hinata asked the boy.

He responded almost immediately, without even thinking about it.

"I have no idea, I did hear it mentioned in the journal though, wait a minute?." Nexus explained, before picking the journal back up.

'Do you mind telling me why you ask?" Nexus said while

Hinata turned from him to the scroll and back to him.

"Because this scroll is titled "The hive" and is a map that I do not recognize." Hinata told him.

Nexus rifled through the notebook a little more before he apparently found the page he was looking floor.

"Ah, got it. apparently the hive is a network of living tunnels that stretch across the entire earths surface... wow! How have we not heard of this?" Nexus exclaimed.

"Oh, it says why here. The hive is constantly changing as it is alive, and so has not been mapped until recently..." Nexus paused here

"Let me guess, Naruto was the one to have mapped the Hive." Shikamaru asked.

"Of course, but apparently it's not as much of a map as it is an equation, it's the probability of an entrance opening up to the surface combined with a basic knowledge of how it moves." Nexus informed them.

"Whoa! The map just changed!" Hinata exclaimed in shock.

The rest of the group climbed over each-other until they were inevitably dog piled around Hinata and looking at the map.

It looked like a massive spiderweb, broken a wiggling at parts.

After a few moments Tenten got tired of being in a dog pile and snatched the map out of Hinata's hands.

Tenten made a show of rolling up the scroll and standing up.

"All right, we need to figure out what to do now that we have this map, like for instanc, how to use it. We don't even know how the map works in regards to konoha, or even the elemental nations." Tenten explained.

The digpile had already collapsed into it's thirteen parts.

Nexus was already browsing through the journal again.

"Nnnnoooope! nothing on how to use the map. looks like we've got homework to do." Nexus sighed.

"God I hate homework.' Nexus complained.

This was a problem, and since Tenten was in charge of this meeting, she needed to fix it.

"He's right, we need to work out how to use this map and to find out why the hive is significant." Tenten explained.

"Um, Neji and I have access to the Hyuuga's private library. So we have the resources to maybe find a reference to the hive and its' significance." Hinata offered.

"And I have sole access to the Uchiha private library." Sasuke threw in.

Well then, that settled things.

"Hinata, Neji, and Sasuke will take turns posessing the map and studying for references. In the next week you three need to figure out how to use the map, and what the hive has to do with all of this. Ready, break." Tenten exclaimed.

The whole group clapped in unison at this, much to all of their amusement.

"All right, Hinata will have the first turn, Sasuke will have the second, and Neji will have third. Nexus, you stalk that anbu chick you stole these from." Tenten

"With gusto." Nexus replied before getting up and leaving.

The rest of their 13 man group did the same.

* * *

Three whole days passed, and the doujutsu trio had poured over dozens of books.

Neji and hinata had begrudgingly worked togther the first day, deciding what books to look into.

Neji was fonder of the historical documents and books describing Hyuuga history in particular. Hinata felt that the mythologies would be a better choice in finding references to such a megolothic structure as the hive. It must be mentioned in some of the classic tales.

Not a single peep in "The story of creation" or "The tale of the Sic Paths", two of Hinata's favorite story books. And Neji wasn't doing much better with "The Hyuuga, and the founding of Konoha" and "The Nomads of the Byakugan."

Eventually they had to pass the map over to Sasuke, who politely invited them into his Library.

How could they refuse?

The Uchiha library was as massive as theirs, of course most of the books were biographical depictions of battles fought, as the Uchiha had been a warrior clan for hundred of years, and had documented their conquests.

But there were also quite a few books on performing jutsu, no doubt stolen from enemies via use of the Sharingan.

Hinata couldn't help but wonder why Sasuke hadn't committed himself to learning these jutsu.

"I actually never came in here other than for the sake of completing homework assignments. I never kn ew I had all of these at my disposal." Sasuke explained.

What a shame, there were instructions on how to perform hundreds of different jutsu here. Maybe she could borrow a few books.

She nearly fainted when she saw the section of Uchiha folklore and mythology, it was as extesive as the hyuuga's, only she didn't recognize any of the titles, except for three. "The story of Creation", "A Tale of Six Paths" and "Of Jesters and Monarchs." *

She asked if she could borrow the three of them and compare them to the Hyuuga versions. He said go for it.

Neji had the same reaction to the Uchiha history section.

If it wasn't for the serious nature of their visit this would have been the funnest sleep over of all time, but alas, they needed to study.

Hinata poured over Uchiha specific myths, Neji did the same for their history, and Sasuke found a new love for his ancestors accounts of their battles.

"I've never hated reading, but I swear I've never loved a book as much as I'm loving these right now." Sasuke explained.

And by the end of the second day, they found zilch, nada, zero!

And so the third day came, and this time Sasuke was invited into the hyuuga compound.

Getting permission from her father was simple enough. Hiashi had nothing against the boy, even if their clans had disputed in the past, he saw no harm in him visiting their compound.

And the third verse was the same as the first and second. Sasuke and neji poured over history, while Hinata compared the Uchiha "Of Jesters and monarchs" to the Hyuuga version.

Both were roughly a thousand pages log, though the hyuuga version was a whole thirty pages longer than the uchiha.

Little known fact, with the byakugan active a hyuuga can read an entire page of text in less than ten seconds. They won't remember what it says very well, but they can skim over texts and compare differences easily enough.

The two versions were almost identical in the story they told. The difference was in how the story was told.

The hyuuga version was poetic in its' description of events, where'as the Uchiha version was more of a textbook describing the events within the story. Apparently the Uchiha viewed the story as more factual than mythological.

It wasn't until after almost twenty chapters, and 300 pages that Hinata found it.

_The Gelel arteries were as such. During the end time of the second age, the ancestors of the Hyuuga, fashioned gelel energy into massive crsyals, and burried them deep underground._

_Tunnels were built connecting the crystals, so as to ensure a constant flow of Gelel energy between them. _

_Thus the Gelel arteries were created. And the entire world, and all of it's nations, were connected in a global energy grid, and at it's center, controlled by the ancestors of the Hyuuga, was "The Heart of the Kigdom", a seperate gelel crystal that conrolled all others._

_When Misukase, lord of the jesters, gained control over it, he infused the gelel energy with the demonic power he already posessed, and the apacolyptic events that followed scarrred the planet for nearly eight thousand years before the Sage of the Six paths came to this earth._

_When the gelel energy was corrucpted and then spent, the tunnels and arteries left behind, became what is now known as.._

"The Hive!" Hinata exclaimed.

She had yelled so loud that her normally stoic cousin fell out of his chair.

"We've got to roundthe others up" Hinata instructed Sasuke and Neji.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, the Hive was originally a system of delivery for an energy source that powered an empire that spanned the entire globe ten thousand years ago. And in theory, the corpse of this main power source can be used to create the, theoretical, Kingdom hearts, via means of slaughtering thousands of human beings, and using their darker halves to reignite this power source." Nexus surmised.

"Um.. I think so." Hinata sputtered out.

The entire group, who were once agin chowing at the BBQ-shack, wer all silent for a moment.

"Well, that sounds reasonable. So we gotta go down into the hive, find "The Heart of the Kingdom" and smash it, before whoever this 'him' guy that Naruto mentions in the journal, manages to get his hands on it." Nexus suggested.

"That's a great plan to start with i suppose, but we still have one problem." Sasuke said as he reached into his pocket.

He pulled out the map and unfolded it onto the table.

"We still don't know how to use the map!" Sasuke said.

Nexus took a quick look at the map and started to consifer it.

"You know, there seem to be five points where most of the paths intersect. What comes to mind when you hear the nimbe '5'?' nexus asked.

"The five Kages?" Suggested Ino

"The five hidden villages?" Suggested Sakura.

"The five elemental nations?" Suggested Hinata.

"Correct on all accounts!" Nexus exclaimed.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a marker, and began drawing on the map.

The crudest map of the elemental nations that any of them had ever seen was now drawn over the map of the arteries.

"You Nexus, are a disgrace to artists everywhere." Sai informed the red head.

Nexus put two hands out in a manner that made it look like he was holding an invisible ball.

"Do you see this Sai, this is the fuck that give, here, take it." Nexus told Sai as he offered the darker boy twp hand-fulls of air.

Sai respectfully declined while the rest of the group laughed at Nexus' joke.

"But check it out, the arteries converge on all of the five great hidden villages, including Konoha." Hinata informed the group.

It was true, the arteries criss crossed right over the villages hidden in the leaf, sand, lightning, mist, and mountains. Right now there seemed to be a gaping hole right over the village hidden in the sand.

Everyone gasped as the map changed again.

The arteries, for the most part, remained where they were, but the gaping hole over Suna vanished, and reappeared over konoha's spot.

".. What does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"It means that an entrance into the hive has opened into Konoha, and we can now enter it. and since the opening in Suna lasted three days, it's safe to assume that we have plenty of time." Neji told everyone.

"But where are the entrances?" Ino pleades.

None of the Doujutsu trio had any response to that. Their studies had not gone that far. What a shame, they now knew of the Hive's origins, and how to use the map, but not how to enter the hive.

"Well, while you jack-offs were busy reading fairy tales, I looked into the history of our beloved first Hokage." Nexus said nonchalantly.

"Oh great, and let me guess, you found out esactly where the entrances were." Sasuke stated with just a little bit of venom.

"Damn straight. I found out that the first and second Hokages, beyond being the founder of Konoha, is responsible for creating 3 of Konoha's most important structures. Them being the Hokage's face and the tunnels behind them, the hot springs, and the sewer system. And Upon investigating missing persons reports of the past few years, they tend to have been seen in these areas... at night." Nexus explained.

The gorup was silent as they took this all in.

"What I can't believe is how you managed to figure out the problem so easily." Neji said accusingly.

Nexus simply grinned mischievously.

_"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?_" (^^)*

"So the fact that the arteries just happen to intersect and open over konoha is not mere coincidence." Tenten stated.

"Of course not, the first must have known of its' significance." Sasuke explained.

"Well then, let's get going." Tenten instructed.

"I'll be sure to grab my radio comm system from home, while I'm gone Shikamaru will separate you all into teams with the intent of attacking the Hive. We'll meet up near the Hokage monument in fifteen minutes." Ordered the group.

And with that they left some cash on the table, and left the restaurant.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later found four teams of Genin near of the Fire Nation.

Team 1 consisted of Nexus, Shikamaru, and Sai. They would remain on the surface to relay information between the other teams, and were the planners.

Team 2 consisted of Hinata, Ino, Tenten and Sakura. Keeping the genders separated lended to survival, as males tended to sacrifice themselves in wasted efforts to rescue female teammates, the female teammates would rarely do the same, so it's better to keep them separated.

Team 3 consisted of Sasuke, Choji, and Kiba, and the final team consisted of Neji, Lee, and Shino.

Teams 2 through 4 would be heading into the three different entrances of the hive, each to make their way to, what the scroll referred to as, the Vault.

"Does anybody else wonder why there are three entrances to the hive underneath Konoha at one time, when it rarely opens up to any other place?" Shikamaru asked out loud.

"It's not officially stated in any documents, but each nation capital is placed right above a Hive entrance hot spot. The five first Kage's did this deliberately for the sake of communication with one another." Sasuke explained.

"If you're done giving history lessons Uchiha, are you ready to get started?" Tenten asked.

Tenten passed one ear piece to the leader of each party, they being Shikamaru for team 1, Hinata for the Femme Fatale team 2, Sasuke for team 3, and Neji for team 4. Shikamaru had deliberately put the doujutsu users in charge, which was smart considering they were entering new territory.

"Team 2, go to the third Hokage's head, team 3 go to the hot springs, team 4 go to the east side sewers." shikamaru instructed.

He then handed his earpiece to Nexus.

"Nexus will guide you all to the exact entrances. ready... go!" Shikamaru ordered, and the teams 2 through four scattered.

"To be perfectly honest, I didn't know the Hokage monument was Hollow." Ino mumbled in awe as she surveyed the inner cavern in awe.

"It's supposed to be a safe house in case of invasion." Sakura explained.

"Oh gee, thank you so very much Mrs. Iruka, would you like to teach us about the lives of its' builders, or accounts of times it's been used in the past?" Ino mocked sarcastically.

"Stop with your bitching. we've got work to do." Tenten ordered.

"Tenten, I do believe I am the team leader." Hinata informed her underling.

"Oh, by all means, exert your authority."

"Shut it you two, you two contaminate your surrounding with estrogen without bitching." Hinata said angrily.

Tenten gave her a satisfying high five for that one.

"So Nexus, what are we looking for." Hinata said into her head piece.

"I'd like to second that." Sasuke's voice replied.

"Keep a lookout for a great circular hole, one that seems out of place with crumbling sides." Nexus answered.

"Every opening looks like that." Ino complained.

"Could you be a little more specific?" Hinata asked.

There was a moments pause before nexus answered.

"It will look like a giant gaping anus. So get the blodo flowing and dive balls deep into it." Nexus answered.

Hinata wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she heard Sasuke and his teammates laughing uncontrollably.

"Found it!" Tenten informed her.

Hinata walked over to her new teammate, and quickly stepped back from the wall.

A gaping hole, six feet in diameter, was inlaid into the wall. I had perfect symmetry and had an unnatural aura, a dark aura. All along the edges, and along the walls inside of the tube, were crumbling and falling apart before regenerating. the insides also twisted like a worm.

"I'm not sure I want to go down there." Ino said apprehensively.

"Why thank you for volunteering Ino, when you're ready." Hinata said, indicating the entrance.

Grumbling the entire way, Ino stepped past them to stand right in front of the entrance to the hive.

She lifted one foot and placed it inside of the gaping hole, and the moment she did it stopped writhing and ceased to be alive. The tube was now hanging at an angle, like a slide.

"Well then, Geronimo!" Tenten said before tackling Ino.

The two practically flew down the tube and out of sight, into the hive. Sakura and Hinata followed in turn.

"Nexus, we're having some difficulty finding the damn thing." Sasuke called over the comm.

The steam from the nearby waterfall was unbearable, especially since the water from it was boiling hot. The area they were in was just on the border of a training grounds and the hot springs itself, but was still overflowing with water from the hot springs.

"Try looking for disturbances in the water, anything like a water drain, or maybe behind the waterfall." Nexus offered.

"Found it!" Kiba called out.

The dog boy was indicating the pool of water that was forming from the waterfall. Sasuke could just make out a maelstrome through the steam and trees.

"So how do we go about getting through the gateway?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh stop being such a pussy." Kiba yelled defiantly, before diving headlong into the whirlpool.

The gaping 'anus' swallowed him as esily as the water around him, and Choji followed suite. With the hope that the ear piece was waterproof, Sasuke jumped into the pool as well.

The water was as hot as it looked and he was quickly sucked down the tube as well.

The smell was unbearable. Why he had been assigned to the sewer, Neji would never know, not forgive.

With the byakugan he was quickly able to locate the entrance to the hive, problem was it hadn't quite pierced into any of the sewers passages, and was still fourteen feet away from the nearest wall, and Lee was pounding away at it.

His green clad teammate had made considerable progress, nearly nine feet of ground had been moved, but they were still so far off.

"How is your progress coming along?" Nexus asked over the radio.

"We're getting pretty close, still about six feet away though." Neji answered.

"Well I suggest you back away, and quick." Nexus instructed him.

"Why?" Neji asked as Lee gave the the tunnel he was digging another mighty blow.

"The gateway is about to shift."

No sooner had Nexus said it than the tube vanished, and reappeared exactly where Lee was.

His teammate vanished as if sucked down a wormhole, which was pretty much what the tube was.

"Well that worked out nicely." Shino joked, before going down the tube as well.

"Thanks a lot for the early warning Nex." Neji said before approaching the gateway.

"Any time."

* * *

_**YES! I managed to squeeze one disney reference in there. Bet you can't tell what it is without looking it up.**_

_**1) * Of jesters and monarchs is another story of mine, and yes, I am plugging it. the hive was originally inspired by a fafiction titled "The Genius loosers of konoha" , buit i later tied the idea in with the concepts i already have written down for "Of Jesters nad monarchs. I do hope some of you decide to check it out.**_

_**I tried to make this chapter as hilarious as possible, more like "Demon in the crucible (which I will update tomorrow, along with Of jesters and Monarhcs) how'd I do?**_


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